Cobalt Blue
by Mintacia
Summary: Nico di Angelo isn't sure if he's imagining Will Solace's sudden personality changes. Most of the time, Will is his normal, carefree (and annoying) self. However, every so often, Will is different. During those times, there's a strange hunger in his gaze when he looks at Nico. For Nico, it is both frightening and exhilarating at the same time. / Solangelo, Post-BoO /
1. Embers

**. x .**

**COBALT BLUE**

_Chapter One: **Embers**_

The first time that I got burned, I dropped my hammer and cussed. Leo started snickering as I yanked off a glove and used it to smack at the orange embers on my skin.

"You'll get used to it!" Leo commented cheerfully before going back to his work. Yea, easy for him to say; he was immune to fire and all forms of heat. I rolled my eyes at him before turning my gaze to glare at the stinging burns on my arm. Annoyingly, I was going to have to swing by the infirmary and get something to put on them.

I started to wonder if spending my extra time in the Hephaestus cabin was actually a good decision. However, there wasn't much else for me to do.

When summer ended, most of the other demigods around camp had left. Percy and Annabeth had packed up and headed to New Rome College, Will Solace had headed back to California for his junior year of High School, and even Grover had left for a yearlong spiritual hike around the world. When September had hit, I'd found myself rather alone.

Jason and Piper were still around, but they were so couple-y that they kind of grossed me out. I swear, every time I looked away, they tried to sneak in kisses. Ugh.

Leo and Calypso were living at the camp this year too, but I didn't consider them an option at first for the same reason that I didn't hang out too often with Jason and Piper. Then one day, I had noticed that Calypso spent most of her mornings and afternoons helping what few Hecate and Apollo kids remained with their magic. I started gravitating towards Leo during the day time, bugging him in his forge. He wasn't my first choice for who to spend my time with, but it wasn't too bad. Leo was happy to chit chat with me, even if our conversations boiled down to me chastising him for making idiotic jokes.

One day, after a few weeks of me watching him work, Leo handed me a hammer and told me to make myself useful. I had never forged anything before, but I had nothing to lose by trying. That's how I ended up hammering together fence rails. It was hard work, but surprisingly refreshing. It felt good to create something.

The children of Hades don't often create things. Usually, we just resurrect them.

So, anyways, since I'd burned myself, off I went to the infirmary. The entire place was being manned by a skittish, twelve year-old girl. She seemed terrified of me immediately. She led me to the supply closet in the back of the infirmary. "Burn ointment should be in there somewhere." The girl whimpered, before turning and darting away.

I couldn't blame her for being frightened. Not only was I the son of death, but over the last few years, I'd put on some muscle and a few inches. I was no longer the sickly, small, Hawaiian shirt-clad boy that had nearly killed himself shadow-traveling a giant statue across the world.

Heck, most demigods were at least a little afraid of me. There were only a few (aggravating) souls that were oblivious to what everyone else was affected by. Like, Will Solace. Who, by the way, I was still (aggravatingly) shorter than. During the previous summer, he had enjoyed teasing me about that.

When I located the big tube of burn ointment, tucked with other similar bottles, I decided to simply take it. That way, I figured, I wouldn't have to bother the Apollo healers every time I burned myself.

I left the infirmary, satisfied.

Winter passed. Then, spring. I continued to help in the forge with Leo, which meant occasionally burning myself. I got better at not getting embers on me, but it still happened now and then. The other Hephaestus kids, while not impervious to fire like Leo, never got bothered by the embers. I supposed that it must have been a Hephaestus-skill sort of deal.

The month of May arrived quickly. Campers began to trickle in. Percy and Annabeth even showed back up to camp. I listened to Annabeth babble about her Architecture classes for about an hour before I had to excuse myself. Any more might have caused my brain to explode. Regardless, it was nice to have them back.

That particular Wednesday started out as a normal Wednesday. I was hammering away at railing, getting out the kinks. Leo was helping some newly arrived Hephaestus camper set up her work station. I was half listening to him explain to her how some of the updates he'd made to the forges worked when my hammer hit a soft spot in the metal and hot embers spewed out.

I no longer reacted when I burned myself. No, rather, I calmly grabbed a nearby wet cloth and smacked the embers off my skin. It was no big deal; I was always prepared. I reached over to where I kept my bottle of burn ointment. I squeezed it and it let out a hoarse hiss.

It was empty.

Sighing with frustration, I pushed myself up. _Looks like it's time to raid the infirmary again_, I thought.

"I'll be back." I told Leo, before turning and heading out of the cabin.

As I walked to the Big House, I passed several campers dragging suite cases across the grass. _The American schools must have gotten out_, I realized. _I wonder if he's back..._ I gave my head a shake. No, I didn't need to be wondering about him. Everyone would show back up eventually. There was no reason getting myself pointlessly excited for any one particular person.

The infirmary was abuzz with life when I reached it. A few feet in the door, the Apollo kids had created a huge circle and were chatting together happily. For most of them, this was the first time they'd seen each other in eight months. Their excitement was almost infectious.

A few of them paused to stare at me curiously as I entered. I let my eyes scan the group for a mop of blond hair, but didn't see him. Deciding not to bother the group, I passed right by them and headed into the supply closet at the back of the infirmary.

It took a minute of digging through the medical supplies to find the burn ointment. During the summer, Calypso and her trainees had done an impressive job adding to the medical stock of Camp Half-Blood. There were cures for every possible injury or disease crowded on the wire shelves of the medical supply closet. From the common cold to manticore poison, Camp Half-Blood was prepared to handle even the most random infliction. I would have to tell Calypso _good job _next time I saw her.

Burn ointment in hand, I turned around and found Will Solace standing in the doorway of the supply closet, which nearly gave me a heart attack.

"What do you think you're doing, di Angelo?" Will asked, grinning.

He hadn't changed that much. With his khaki shorts, a t-shirt (with an American pop culture reference that I didn't understand), and flip-flops, Will looked almost the same as he had eight months ago. His hair even looked properly messy, like he'd ran his hands through it several times. Which he probably had, actually. Will tended to do that a lot.

It was stupid, but I couldn't deny that I was happy to see him. Eight months was a long time. "You're back." Was what I managed to say. That didn't answer his question, though. _Ugh_, what was wrong with me? There was no reason to feel so... flustered.

Will smiled at me. His smile was bright, just like I remembered. "Nice to see you too, sunshine." He chuckled pleasantly, "Why are you stealing my supplies?"

Oh. I should have figured he wouldn't agree with me taking supplies. Scowling, I decided not to address that ridiculous nickname and instead defended myself. "They are the camp's supplies." I retorted. He hadn't been back for two seconds, and he was already trying to boss me around.

I'd hadn't realized how much I missed his bossiness.

"My infirmary, my supplies." The healer stated, still smiling, before stalking over to me and grabbing the tube out of my hands. His fingers brushed mine for a split second and I felt the same electricity I had felt when I'd run into him out by Thalia's tree in the midst of the war, two years ago.

I covered up my embarrassment by glaring at him.

Turning the bottle over in his hands, Will stared at the label. "Why do you need burn cream?" He asked curiously.

"... no reason." If I told him, I knew he'd launch into full doctor mode. He'd probably even start giving me a lecture on proper care of my epidermis layer (which is vocabulary I only knew because of previous lectures on proper healthcare).

The annoying thing about children of Apollo is that you didn't need to tell them what was wrong. No, they were keen enough to find out what it was by themselves. I tensed as Will's eyes swept up and down my figure. Without asking first, Will reached forward and grabbed my arm.

Will never seemed to understand the concept of personal space. Annoyed, I tried to yank my arm back, but he held firm. Staring down at the burns along right arm, he asked incredulously, "How the Hades did you do this?"

Sucking in a breath, I calmed myself. Will's behavior shouldn't surprise me. I'd known him long enough at this point. "... embers from the forge." I admitted softly.

"Forge? As in, the Hephaestus' forge?"

"Yes." Eight months of frustration bleed into my next words. "While you've been wasting your time at your American school, I've been learning metalwork." _Because I've been bored out of my mind._ I didn't add that last bit.

"Funny, I thought you were a child of Hades?" His words were playful, even though I was still glaring at him. I never quite understood how Will could always be so _happy_ around me. It was weird, but... I liked it. I liked it more than I should have.

"And what hobby would be appropriate for a child of Hades, Solace?" I snapped back. It wasn't like there was a particular hobby the children of Hades were good at, other than summoning skeletons from the ground. Last I checked, there wasn't a Skeleton-Raising club in Camp Half-Blood for me to join.

He was still holding my arm. Blushing, I yanked and got it back this time.

Will blinked, then laughed. "Okay, fine, whatever floats your boat." Then he leaned towards me and I found myself staring into his sky blue eyes. "But I'll be caring for your burns, di Angelo. You might now be a welder, but you're not a doctor."

"Neither are you, technically." I muttered under my breath, but I didn't resist when he grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the closet.

That's how I found myself sitting on a hospital bed, waiting for Will to find some bandages. I tried telling him that he didn't need to wrap my arms up, that I never wrapped my arms up, but he cut me off.

"Yea, I can tell. You've got marks all up your arm." As he spoke, Will was digging through some drawers. I wasn't really sure what he was grabbing. "Do me a favor: no more self-medicating."

I glanced down at my arms. Yea, I had small pot marks and scars from my previous burns, but what did it matter? Demigods had scars. It was a fact of life.

Will didn't seem ready to accept that. The wheels of his stool squeaked as he pushed it over to the bed. Several supplies tumbled out of his hands and onto the bed's attached tray. I noticed that none of the supplies were the burn ointment.

Apprehension hit me. "Will, what are you doing?"

At first, he didn't reply. I watch him fiddle with the supplies, squirting golden liquid onto a square piece of gauze. Not about to be ignored, I gave his leg a light kick. "I'm healing your scars." He finally answered.

My face contorted with annoyance. I didn't need him to heal my scars. Personally, I didn't give a flying Pegasus about my scars.

"I know you're about to argue with me," Will said suddenly, pausing in his work to glare stubbornly at me, "but this isn't up for debate. When I see something I can fix, I fix it." His stubbornness was so cute that my argument died in my throat. Of course, I still growled with frustration and rolled my eyes.

"Fine." I huffed.

His face changed and his trademark smile returned. "Good!"

I tried not to flinch too much when his hand took my arm again. At the end of last summer, I'd gotten used to how touchy he was, but eight months apart had left me feeling all nervous again every time his skin brushed mine.

The salve that he was using didn't sting too badly. At the very least, it was nothing compare to hot embers boring holes in my skin. Will wrapped each arm up with bandages as he finished with them. I looked like an idiot, with both of my arms wrapped from wrist to elbow, but it was too late to complain about that.

"You'll need to come in once a day for the next week so I can change out your bandages." Will instructed happily.

After offering me a lollipop for being _such a good boy, _Will released me from the infirmary_. _The comment should have made me angry, but instead I found myself fighting a smile.

The next day while I was working in the forge, Leo asked me why I was in such a good mood. When he kept pestering me for a reason (because apparently me smiling was as abnormal as pigs flying), I ended up threatening him with my hammer.

At lunch, I found myself eating with Annabeth and Piper. Percy and Jason were busy teaching classes, while both Annabeth and Piper were teaching classes that started right when the boy's classes ended. While they explained this to me, I found myself wondering if I should be teaching a class to the younger campers too, but then I remembered that most of them were afraid of me.

I slurped up chicken noodle soup and listened to the girls share stories. Annabeth talked about college while Piper talked about her trips to New Rome with Jason. At one point, they both paused and looked at me.

"What about you, Nico?" Piper asked. "What was the high point of your year?"

Running into Will yesterday at the infirmary flashed through my mind. No, that was stupid. It'd been nice to see him, but I wouldn't go so far as to declare that a high point. I searched my mind for something else to say.

"Um. It was very... rewarding to get the new fence erected around the strawberry fields." That was the best I could come up with. Again, the last eight months had been very uneventful.

Annabeth stared at me with confusion. It was Piper who clarified, "Oh yea, you helped Leo in the forge with that fence, right?"

"You've been helping in the forge?" Annabeth parroted, her eyes narrowing with surprise.

I shrugged. "Yea. I didn't have much else to do." Maybe that would change, with everyone coming back. I dropped my attention back to my chicken noodle soup. Steam was still rolling off it.

"But... you're a child of Hades." Annabeth pointed out slowly. She reminded me of Will yesterday.

Flustered, I snapped at her. "So? What else is there for a child of Hades to do?" Was every single person going to question me about my new hobby?

Annabeth held both her hands up in surrender. "Okay, never mind. Sorry Nico."

After a second, I started to feel bad. There wasn't any reason for me to snap at her like that. I sucked in a deep breath and then gradually exhaled. During the winter, Clovis had taught me (during one of our many dream run-ins) regulating your breathing was a great way to relax in tough situations. The technique worked pretty well for me.

Calmer, I apologized to Annabeth, "No, sorry, I didn't meant to snap at you." I sighed. "I missed having everyone around. This place is a ghost town when every leaves. Well, not a literal ghost town. Those are different." I'd been through a few ghost towns, and they were anything but quiet.

"It's okay." Annabeth smiled. Tentatively, I returned her smile to the best of my ability.

"Oh! Guys, I forgot to tell you about how Jason and I accidentally blew up a coffee shop!" Piper said suddenly, drawing the attention off me. Relieved, I listened to her story, _hmph-_ing and_ haw-_ing at the right times.

When lunch ended, I decided that it'd be a good time to head to the infirmary and get my bandage change over with.

I recognized the girl standing by the door, but her name didn't come to me right away. She smiled at me and said, "Oh, hello Nico. Will said you'd be coming by."

Kayla. Her name is Kayla. During the battle of Manhattan, she'd fought alongside the rest of her siblings. I nod at her. "Yea." I'm not sure whether I need to go into detail about the burns, the scars, and Will being his usual demanding self. Luckily, she doesn't ask.

"I'll be right back." She said as she turned and headed deeper into the infirmary.

My gaze wandered. The wall to my left had a bunch of nails jammed in it, with name plaques hanging on them. Some of them were blank, while others bore names. I spotted _Will Solace _near the top. Kayla also has a plaque, a few spots below Will's. Last year, Will had explained to me that that was how they kept track of who was in and who wasn't. Since I'd helped out so much in the infirmary last year, he had kept joking that he was going to get me a plaque made.

"Ah, there's my favorite patient!" Will shouts from the other side of the infirmary.

_Breath_, I tell myself. If I focus on my breathing, I'm pretty sure I can keep my cheeks from coloring. I like being called Will's _favorite patient _way too much. No, I need to stay indifferent to him. I don't want an inappropriate crush ruining our friendship.

He grabbed my hand and dragged me off to the same curtained off hospital bed as the day before. Even though it was completely unnecessary, he insisted on getting my vitals before he started on my bandages. The blasted healer started explaining the importance of having a record on file, but I wasn't really listening. His hands on my arm and wrist, as he checks blood pressure and then heart rate, distracted me.

"Your heart is speeding up." Will commented with interest as his hands are on my wrist.

Panicking, I snapped at him, "Probably because of how much you frustrate me."

Something in the way that he grinned at me made me think that he doesn't believe me.

The bandages came off and a noxious smell filled the room. Will started laughing and joked about how healing doesn't always smell nice. He layered more of the salve onto each arm, before starting to wrap them back up. Before Kayla poked her head in, he had finished my right arm and was wrapping up the left.

"Will, an Ares camper got a spear jammed in his thigh." She informed him grimly.

Will groaned, "Another one? That's the second Ares kid today!" Glancing at me, Will smiled sadly. "I have to go. I'll see if I can send one of the younger kids to finish wrapping you up?"

I nodded, even though I was already considering finishing it myself. Will might have told me _no self-medicating_, but I hardly considered finishing wrapping a bandage around my arm _self-medicating_.

Will ducked out of the room. On the off chance that he'd end up U-turning and coming right back, I waited, counting backwards from one hundred. I didn't want to be on the receiving end of a lecture about how I should have let one of the healers finish up the bandaging.

It's a good thing I waited, because Will ducked back through the curtains about half a minute later.

"Don't you need to help with that Ares kid?" I asked as Will walked over to me. He seemed kind of different, but maybe I was just imagining it.

"Nah, they ended up not needing me." Will said with a shrug as he stopped only a few inches from me. _Too close,_ I thought nervously. Dropping to gaze to the ground, I offered him my partially bandaged left arm. Thinking was hard when Will was that close.

Instead of taking my arms, his hands found their way to my face.

_ What the Tartarus!? _

He looked very amused as he tipped my head up towards his. Every inch of me heated up and I felt angry at him for making me feel like that. I definitely didn't invite him to touch me like that. It wasn't fair for Will to make me blush like this, especially when he'd only been back two days.

Batting his hands away, I growled hotly, "Stop being weird."

His laughter was deep, beautiful. "Sorry. I couldn't resist." An involuntary shudder ran through me. He couldn't resist? What on earth was he talking about? No, I was too afraid to ask. I stared down at his flip-flops as he finished bandaging my arm.

The whole time, Will stared at me in the same way that Annabeth stared at great feats of architecture. I wasn't sure what to feel, other than uncomfortable. Will really was being weird. As soon as he was done, I jumped off the gurney, intent on storming out of the infirmary as quickly as possible.

He caught my hand before I could get through the curtain. "You're adorable when you're embarrassed." He told me, which only embarrassed me more. Internally, I was freaking out. Why was Will, after eight months apart, being so... flirty? I mean, he'd always been kind of flirty, but never like this. Never so straight-forward.

Maybe I was going crazy. That was the easiest explanation. Stealing my hand back, I ducked out of the curtains and pretty much ran out of the infirmary. Maybe I was misunderstanding Will and his damned flirtatious words.

Or maybe this was his way of showing me that he liked me too?

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

**- x - x - AUTHOR'S NOTES - x - x - **

Hello everyone! I hope you have enjoyed the first chapter of my newest story. C: I'm quite excited about this story!The story will get pretty intense and that's a promise, haha. Also, it's going to be kinda long, around fourteen chapters. .

Remember to follow and comment!


	2. Weird

**. x .**

**COBALT BLUE**

_Chapter Two: **Weird**_

The dining pavilion was filled with life. In the last two days, a huge chunk of the Camp Half-Blood demigods had arrived. The once barren pavilion now hummed with chatter. Some of the tables were already dangerously crowded.

Despite the explosion in population, my table was empty as always.

No surprise there. As a child of Hades, I was used to being alone. I accepted it. While the other gods enjoyed the sun and the earth, my father was stuck to the caverns below the earth. In other words, it was only natural for me to be an outcast.

After getting a plate of sweet-smelling BBQ and various vegetables, I headed over to my table. My mind was still swirling with what had happened earlier that day. Will had acted so very strange... but maybe I was being overly dramatic? A few comments and a few small touches didn't meant much. Maybe he had been playing a game? There was a whole slew of American social jokes that I didn't understand. For example, one time Leo patted me on the head and declared, "Goose!" It had seemed nonsensical at the time until someone explained to me that it was a game.

I sat down at my table, let out a frustrated sigh, and started digging into my food.

And then everyone else sat down too. They swarmed around the table so quickly that I didn't notice them until they all started to sit down. Mouth agape, I looked up from my food and found many familiar faces at my table.

Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Lou Ellen, Cecil, Kayla, Jason, and Will. The latter two plopped themselves down on either side of me. Gulping, I tried to ignore how nervous I felt having Will sit so close to me. _We're just friends, _I told myself like it was some sort of mantra.

Honestly, I'd never seen the Hades table so full. Chiron preferred for every camper to sit with the rest of their cabin, but he didn't speak up as the hoard of demigods joined me.

Jason reached out and ruffled my hair. Growling, I smacked his hand away. "How was the forge today, Nico?" He asked cheerfully.

Really? Were we going to ignore the elephant in the room? Everyone was sitting at the table of the god of Death and all things underworld. I didn't understand why everyone would want to sit here, with me. They didn't sit with me last summer at dinner. For some reason, this didn't seem to be bugging the other demigods at the table; they were chitchatting like everything was normal.

Fine. If they weren't going to address their strange actions, then I wouldn't either. I looked at Jason and mumbled, "Um, good. Hot." I didn't mention how Leo had harassed me about how he thought I looked strangely happy.

"So, like me?" Will joked with a hearty laugh. I blushed.

"Boo!" Kayla snorted as Lou Ellen used her spoon to fling a wad of mashed potatoes at Will. He dodged the potatoes, giggling.

I noticed that Will seemed normal now. While I couldn't put my finger on it, there had been something weird about when him when he had finished bandaging my arm. Whatever it had been, it wasn't there anymore. Will was definitely his silly, care-free (and annoying) self again.

To my left, Jason started telling his side of the table about a new shrine that he was working on. He said something about Annabeth helping, and she chimed in, "He's a picky god, so we're trying to get it just right." Jason started talking again, describing some of the nuances of the shrine, but I wasn't really listening. No, I was too distracted by what was going on at the other side of the table.

Will and Cecil had both shoved carrots into their upper lips and were preforming their best walrus impression. This included both head bobbing and folding their arms into pretend flippers. In my eighty two years on this earth, I had never seen anything like it. It was idiotic, foolish, pointless, churlish...

And really, really funny. I tried biting my bottom lip to stop myself from snickering as I watched them out of the corner of my eye.

It became too much when Will started _arf-_ing like some sort of psychotic seal. Boisterous laughter bubbled out of me. I didn't like laughing out loud (it always drew too much attention), but I couldn't help was such a dork!

The table grew quiet almost instantly. My laughter died in my throat as everyone turned to stare at me.

What?It wasn't that weird for me to... okay, fine. I didn't usually laugh. But they didn't need to look at me like that! Oh gods, my cheeks felt like they were on fire.

Focusing my dinner, I viciously stabbed at the veggies on my plate. I refused to meet their inquiring gazes. I was not about to admit that I found Will's walrus impression hilarious, especially with Will right there. He'd never let me live it down. Unfortunately, it seemed like some of them interpreted the situations on their own. A few spots down from me, Percy cupped a hand around Annabeth's ear and whispered something to her, while staring at me.

Annabeth chuckled and replied softly, "Yea, I think so too."

Before I could snap at the two of them for gossiping about me, movement in my peripheral vision caught my attention.

Will, with the carrots still shoved in his lips, placed his face a few inches from mine. He hovered there, his face emotionless. He was clearly trying to get a rise out of me. But no, I was not about to give him that satisfaction. So I struggled to maintain a straight face as I continued to eat like nothing was abnormal. But Will didn't give up. He stayed where he was, staring intently at me with his stupid carrot teeth.

Everyone at the table was snickering.

Maybe a tiny bit of churlish behavior wouldn't kill me, I decided. So I scooped up some mashed potatoes with my spoon, turned, and smeared them onto Will's nose. When everyone started laughing, including Will, I allowed myself a small smile.

Having everyone at my table wasn't so bad.

The next day was Friday. Even at breakfast, the dining pavilion was abuzz with discussions about that night's Capture the Flag. While I was scooping eggs into my mouth, Percy and Jason surrounded me at my table and made sure (read: threatened) that I would be joining their side for Capture the Flag.

"Yea, fine." Reluctantly, I agreed. I never particularly looked forward to Capture the Flag. While Jason and Percy could use their big three gifts to their advantage, Chiron had explicitly asked me not to summon any skeletons during the games. He had mentioned something about the skeletons scaring the younger campers. Besides that, my shadow-travel had been decided by the other camp counselors to be a hundred and ten percent unfair (as I could just shadow-travel straight to the flag and then back across the river), so that was out too.

The day seemed to pass quickly. I headed to the forge and worked quietly for a few hours. Leo was too busy helping some of the younger campers with their tinkering to talk much with me.

The infirmary was my next stop. Will seemed normal today too, which was good. We bantered back and forth as he wrapped up my arms again. Apparently, my arms were healing at a fast pace. Or at least, that's what he said; I couldn't tell with all the gross salve covering them.

He asked me if I was going to start helping him in the infirmary like last summer. I gave him a noncommittal shrug for an answer. There were fences to be made, after all. And… well, maybe I wasn't sure about spending too much time with him right away. I needed some time to build up a resistance against Will again.

My bandages re-wrapped, I headed out of the infirmary. As I left, Will shouted, "See you at dinner!"

At dinner, I found myself surrounded by the same crowd as before. How on Tartarus did my table turn into the communal table? I feared to ask. Today, they were all relatively rambunctious, what with the game starting in an hour. Will and Jason kept exchanging playful threats over my head.

"Solace, your arrows won't do you any good when I control the air." Jason pointed out

"That's if you notice them before they hit ya, Grace!" Replied Will with a laugh.

While they argued, I twirled up spaghetti on my fork and nibbled at the pasta. I always liked spaghetti; it reminded me of my mother's cooking. The camp's spaghetti was never as good as hers, but I doubted anything would ever be.

Jason continued gloating, "Right now, we have all of the Big Three demigods on our team. Do you really think you have a chance against me, Percy, and Nico?" Even though it was unnecessary, Jason plopped his hand down on my head. I whacked it away, annoyed.

Will laughed. "Well, I can't say I've ever sparred with any of you before." He gave me a small nudge. "Maybe I'll finally get the opportunity, eh?"

I snorted at the idea. Will was a healer, not a fighter. "You wouldn't last more than two seconds." I told Will dryly, before slurping up some more spaghetti.

Clamping a hand over his heart, Will groaned in pretend pain. "Your lack of faith hurts me deeply."

My cheeks felt warm as I gave his shoulder a quick punch. "Dork." I huffed at him.

Annabeth insisted that the Blue team leave dinner early so that we could get ready. Armor, weapons, and spells were prepared. My team gathered up and Annabeth started relaying information and strategy. I was instructed to go the long way around and try and sneak up on their flag while Jason and Percy tried for a direct approach. Annabeth made some sort of weird metaphor about me being the seeker and everyone else chasers (at least, I think that's what she said?) that went right over my head. For some reason, everyone else nodded like they perfectly understood.

The game started and I entered the forest. The only good thing about Capture the Flag was that it was played at night, which was one of my favorite times of the day. I moved swiftly, crossing into the opposing team's territory in a matter of minutes. Every so often, I heard commotion from other demigods, but I always avoided them. It was almost too easy. The flag had to be around here somewhere.

I was on my way through the forest when a nearby noise caught my attention. Freezing, I grabbed the hilt of my sword. Then I heard it again, from behind me. I twisted around, pulling out my sword. But, before I could ready my sword, a hand smacked my sword to the ground.

It was Will Solace. Light from a mostly full moon illuminated his clean, white shirt and his blond hair.

I gasped and stumbled backwards. How had he gotten so close to me without me noticing? He matched my pace backwards with determined forward steps. My eyes searched the forest, looking for another alternative. Before I could find one, my back hit the trunk of a tree, forcing me to stop. Will didn't stop, though, until his entire body pressed onto mine, pinning me against the tree.

I forgot how to breathe.

There was something off with him, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe it was because he seemed oddly perfect? His hair didn't looked as ruffled as usual. The way that Will was staring at me was also strange; he looked almost hungry.

"Will..." I gurgled out his name when I finally found my voice.

Why was he doing this? He knew that I was not that okay with physical contact. Well, yes, maybe I had dreamed about being this close to him. But so suddenly, without warning? No, my flight or fight responses were kicking in. Was he trying to prove a point? I thought back to dinner and how I'd told him he wouldn't last two seconds against me. Yes, it _must _be that.

"You win." I whimpered, trying to ignore how good his warm body felt pressed against me, "It's been more than two seconds. You can get off."

His eyes narrowed with what looked like confusion. "What?"

"What I said at -" His hand reached up and gently dug into my hair. Instead of finishing my sentence with _dinner_, I ended up making incoherent gurgle-y noises. My heart was pounding so hard that it hurt.

He started leaning his head towards mine.

"What are you doing?" I squeaked, my voice trembling. Part of me realized I could push him off, but I couldn't find the courage (or want) too. I was frozen in place.

"What do you think?" Will chuckled huskily.

My mind went blank as he closed his eyes and his lips got close to mine. But, right before our lips could touch, a cacophony of whoops and screams erupted from the forest nearby. Before I really could register what was happening, Will had backed up. He gave me a charming grin before turning and disappearing into the forest.

Through the trees, I saw several demigods, Jason and Percy included, waving a red flag. They hadn't passed the river yet, but there didn't seem to be much opposition following them.

I slid to the ground, breathing raggedly. A few minutes later, we won the game.

My heart was still pounding when I exited the forest. In the clearing between the camp and the forest, the demigods were clustered. The blue team was gloating; Percy and Jason were tossing the red flag back and forth like it was a football. I quietly glided over to them.

"Who's the best?" Percy yelled.

"We are!" Jason yelled back.

Arms suddenly wrapped around my shoulders and I had to resist the urge to judo-flip my assailant. "Good game, eh?" Will asked me, his voice incredibly nonchalant for how he had acted back in the forest.

Tensing, I mumbled, "Um. Yea." Internally, I was screaming at him._ Why are you so calm about this!? You almost kissed me! I don't know how to feel about all this!_

He released me and sauntered around to my side. "Too bad we didn't get our showdown!" I blinked in surprise at his words. What was he talking about? We did. He had pinned me against a damned tree! "Maybe next time?" He gave my shoulder a small shove.

I turned to glare at him, baffled and frustrated. That's when I noticed the large, dark red stains on his white shirt. Gasping, I asked him, "Did you get hurt?"

"Huh?" Will glanced down at his shirt. "Oh! No, that's just spaghetti sauce from dinner." He grinned sheepishly at me.

It felt like a wrench had been jammed in the cogs of my brain. Will hadn't had any stains on shirt when I'd run into him in the forest. I must have looked like a fish out of water, with my jaw dropped open.

Will rubbed the back of his head, clearly embarrassed. "Hey, in my defense, Cecil threw spaghetti at me after you guys left. I know how to eat without getting it all over myself." If I hadn't been so freaked out about the whole disappearing-reappearing stain thing, I might have wondered why Will and his friends always seemed to get into food fights at dinner.

Something soft pegged me in the face. The flag. "Sorry Nico!" Jason yelled at me.

All my frustration manifested itself into rage at that small act. Furious about my run-in with Will in the forest (and how could it have been Will if he didn't have stains on his shirt, but then who else could have it had been, and how in the end I wasn't sure of anything), I twisted my foot on the ground and opened a crack below the flag. The flag fell into the hole and tumbled down into the underworld.

Jason, Percy, and Will all stared at me in surprise.

I couldn't explain my rage to them, so I stormed away before they could ask.

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

**- x - x - AUTHOR'S NOTES - x - x -**

Next chapter will be uploaded on Monday!


	3. Imposter

**. x .**

**COBALT BLUE**

_Chapter Three: **Imposter  
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The next day at lunch, I wondered aloud, "Is it possible, if you really like someone, to have something you imagined happening with them feel real?"

Both Piper and Annabeth sharply looked at me, their eyes as wide as dinner plates. After a moment, Annabeth spoke hesitantly. "Hm... maybe. Sometimes the brain can become delirious in certain situations... why do you ask, Nico?"

Clearing my throat nervously, I muttered, "No reason." Maybe that had been a stupid thing to ask.

Piper and Annabeth shared a glance. "You know, Nico, if you like someone, you can tell us." Piper said reassuringly.

I ignored them and started attacking my peas with my fork. I'd never been one for sharing. Besides, this situation went beyond a simple crush. This was my mind playing tricks on me. That last thing I wanted was for them to think that I'd finally cracked and gone crazy.

"We wouldn't tell our blabbermouth boyfriends." Annabeth added with a grin.

Piper giggled. "Neither of them are very good at keeping secrets, are they?"

"Remember, last summer, when we found out that Katie and Travis were dating?"

Piper let out a low whistle. "And Percy accidentally blurted it out at the Camp Counselor meeting? Yea, I remember that." I remembered that too. Poor Connor had looked like someone had smashed his heart apart with a brick.

"More reason to not say anything." I muttered softly. Annabeth and Piper might not have been as loudmouthed as their boyfriends, but better safe than sorry. Just like what had happened with Travis and Katie, rumors tended to get around.

"Okay, well, let us know if that changes." Annabeth said with a shrug.

Piper grinned mischievously. "I'm just saying, but I make an excellent wing-woman."

Rolling my eyes, I focused on finishing my breakfast.

Leo was showing one of his siblings how to proper handle electrical wires when I got back to the forge. Ever since he and Calypso had come back from their travels, he'd dutifully taken up the camp counselor duties. I was pretty sure he really liked helping his siblings learn. It helped that he wasn't a half bad teacher.

Since he was busy, I worked silently in my corner of the forge. While the rest of the Hephaestus kids tackled cool and challenging tasks, I hammered out fence railings. It wasn't much of a task, but it was something.

I didn't even notice that Leo had come over to my side until he spoke. "Hey Nicks, you know, with everyone back, are you sure there aren't other things you'd rather do around camp?" Before I could get annoyed at him for trying to kick me out, he added. "I'm sure Percy and Jason would love for you to help them with some of their classes!"

I hesitated. Jason and Percy had been on and off pestering me with that suggestion over the last few days. "Yea, they've asked me a few times."

Leo smiled kindly at me. "Then why don't you? Not that you aren't welcome here – you totally are – but why not give their classes a try? It's just a thought." He turned and sauntered back to where he'd been helping his sibling with her wires.

I sighed. Maybe he was right. Which, by the way, was pretty weird for Leo.

I put my supplies away and headed out of the forge early. I was about to head towards the sword training arena when I remembered my bandaged arms. Will had made me promise to visit every day so that he could change out the bandages. The thought of seeing him again after what happened during Capture the Flag made me feel kind of dizzy, but I didn't have a choice.

I had a feeling that if I tried to skip today's appointment, the healer would make a house call. He was relentless like that.

The first thing that I noticed when I entered the infirmary was that the plaque with Will's name was flipped to show his name. Kayla, who had been sitting at the desk near the entrance, greeted me and went off to get him.

"Good morning, Nico!" Will greeted me as he ducked out from a curtained examine room, smiling his sunny smile. "You're here early."

I shrugged and jammed my hands in my pocket. _Act cool, _I chastised myself. "Yea, well..." Words were stupidly difficult to come up with.

Will linked his arm with mine and I flushed. "Come on then, let's get those bandages changed out!" He dragged me to our regular room. Thankfully, he was normal Will today. During the Capture the Flag yesterday, there had been a rather hungry look in his eyes(although I was growing more and more convinced I had imagined my run in with him). Today, he just looked passively cheerful.

Will started whistling a sweet tune as he got my vitals. Occasionally, he paused in his whistling to ask me medical questions.

"Have your bandages been itching?"

"No."

"Experienced any migraines or strange ailments?"

"No."

"Have your bowel movements been regular?"

"What the heck kind of question is that, Will!?"

"A medical question. I'll put you down for 'yes'."

When he started on my bandages, I tried to focus on my shoes. I traced the white laces with my eyes as I tried to distract myself from his touch. In the back of my head, I could hear Clovis giving me tips on breathing exercises. _Inhale, count to three, and then exhale. _

It didn't help. Flashes of yesterday ran through my head: how it exhilarating it had been to be pinned against the tree, how Will had gazed at me greedily, and how he'd nearly kissed me. My heart started to speed up. Annabeth would have probably informed me that my reaction was due to an increase of adrenaline and other such hormones within my system. She was good at simplifying emotional reactions into facts.

Will finished wrapping my arms. "All done!" He declared.

I jumped hastily to my feet. "Okay, great, thanks." Before I could even take a step, Will grabbed my shoulders.

"Wow, where's the fire?" He asked. I gulped and was about to make up a lie when his hands squeezed tighter on my shoulders and his eyebrows knitted together. "Why is your heart racing?"

Damn those Apollo healing skills of his. I wished that Will didn't have the ability to sense heart rate just by touching me. I tried to shrug off his hands. "It's nothing, I'm fine."

His hands remained planted on my shoulders. "No, you're not fine, that's not normal. Are you feeling alright?" He moved one of his hands from my shoulder to my head, checking for my temperature.

_No, I'm feeling extremely flustered!_ But I didn't say that. Right then, all I wanted to do was run back to my cabin and hide under the sheets of my bed. I didn't want my silly, pointless crush to freak Will out. "No, I'm fine!" I growled at Will as I tried to shoulder past him.

"Just wait Nico, let me look at you!" As he argued with me, he backed up and tried to stay in my way. My stomach was doing flips. I tried to push him out of the way, but in my rush, I ended up tripping over the edge of the curtain of the exam room. My center of balance compromised, I ended up falling straight into Will and knocking both of us over. The curtain came down with us.

_Oh gods._

We were sprawled on the ground, me on top of Will. The curtain was piled on the ground around us. His cheeks were red as we stared at each other for a long moment. Just like the other day when I'd been pinned against the tree, I felt frozen.

It wasn't until one of his siblings ostentatiously cleared his throat that we jumped apart.

"Nico..." He began to say, looking dazed. I didn't wait for him to finish.

"Okay-bye-see-you-tomorrow!" The words tumbled out of my mouth as I shoved myself to my feet. Heart pounding fiercely in my chest, I raced out of the infirmary.

I didn't stop until I got to my cabin and slammed the door shut. The way that Will had looked at me had been when we were sprawled on the floor... it had looked like... could it be my imagination again? It was different from the Will in the forest. It hadn't been a fierce, hungry look, but it was something close to that.

Did he return my feelings? That would mean that he had, well... _similar interests_. It seemed so improbable, so unlikely. What had I done to deserve such dumb luck?

Nervously, I began to fiddle with my skull ring, twisting it around and around on my finger.

Yet... maybe. Maybe he did. A glimmer of hope began to build within my chest. For once, I let myself entertain the idea that, yes, maybe Will liked me back. It was frightening and exhilarating at the same time. Last summer, I had spent the entire four months trying to stop myself from falling for him, trying to stop myself from ending up in the same situation as when I had liked Percy. But, Will was not Percy.

A knock on the door caught my attention. I wasn't sure who was visiting, what with it being the middle of the day. As childish as it was, a part of me hoped it was Will. I went and opened the door.

It was Will. He looked perfect, like some sort of beautiful painting... oh geez, I really did have it bad for him.

"Will, what -" I started to ask _what are you doing here _but I didn't get the chance to finish. All within roughly two seconds, Will stepped into the cabin, slammed the door shut, threw an arm around my waist, spun us both around, and pinned me against the door. I barely had the chance to gasp before his lips claimed mine.

Just like that, he stole my first kiss.

It was hot and heavy, this kiss. Will kissed me like he might never get a chance to again, and I wasn't really sure how to respond – or if I should. In fact, I kind of reeled in shock for most of it. Was this my imagination again? How could this be reality?

The shock started to fade and I was left with a yearning building up within me. Shyly, I started to return the kiss, moving my lips with his.

I felt light pressure on my hips. It took me a second to realize that those were his hands. _Oh gods. No, this is too much_. Yet... at the same time, it was so very intoxicating. My body felt like it's on fire and I was hyper aware of every bit of him that was pressing into me. When he slipped his tongue into my mouth, I couldn't hold back a moan.

When he finally broke the kiss, I was shaking and gasping for breath. If he hadn't had me pinned up against the door, I would have slid to the floor. My legs had turned into jelly.

Will chuckled softly in my ear and pressed harder against me. That's when I become aware of his _excitement, _and I yelped in surprise. No, I was _definitely _not ready for that. I struggle to find my voice. _Slower_, I wanted to ask. In my head, I had always imagined nice dates and little kisses on the cheek before getting to anything of this caliber.

I met his hungry gaze. His face is so beautiful, it almost hurt. _Weird, _I thought to myself. Will always looked handsome, but after making out so fiercely with him, he seemed to attain a new level of beauty. Everything, right down to his intense, cobalt blue irises, was captivating.

Wait.

Will's eyes weren't a deep blue like that. No, they were a light blue, like the sky on a cloudless day. I knew that by heart.

Something was wrong. In my head, I started to connect the dots. The strange behavior over the last few days... the stains on his shirt during Capture the Flag…

This wasn't Will.

Pure panic exploded in my chest. Acting on instinct, I jammed my arms against the imposter's chest and tried to push him away. Even though I levied all my strength against him, he didn't budge. As if he didn't even notice my attempts to push him away, he leaned his head down into the crook of my neck and pressed his lips against my collarbone.

"Something wrong, babe?" He breathed huskily.

"W-who are you?" I spluttered.

"Me? I'm Will Solace." He hummed as he started to kiss up the side of my neck. "Don't you want me, Nico?"

My hormones said yes, but everything else said no. "W-will's... eyes are different." I whispered agonizingly.

Will froze. Then, his entire body started to shake as he chuckled. "Okay, you got me. I've never liked changing my eyes."

There was a blinding flash that made me feel sick. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on not throwing up. However, what I saw when I opened my eyes again made me much queasier than any blinding flash ever could.

Instead of being pinned against the door by Will Solace, I was being pinned up against the door by his father, the Greek god Apollo.

I screamed as I tried to shove him away again.

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

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Oh my goodness. :O

Next chapter will be posted in a few days!

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	4. Run

**. x .**

**COBALT BLUE**

_Chapter Four: **Run**_

"W-why would you... ugh!" I couldn't properly speak. I couldn't properly think. Apollo had me pinned up against the door and, despite me trying to push him away, hadn't backed off.

He looked the exact same as when I last saw him, back when I was a child, with the exception of his clothes (he was still wearing Will's Camp Half-Blood shirt). His blond hair was similar to Will's, but his skin was several shades tanner. His smile was literally blinding, as if there was a mini-sun embedded in every tooth. In the back of my mind, I recalled that I'd been impressed when I had first met him, back when I was a child. Like Thalia had observed way back when, the sun god was hot.

But I had no interest in the sun god now, hot or not. Especially not when he pretended to be his _son_. There was all sorts of wrong there. I felt terrified, disgusted.

_Oh gods. I made out with Will's dad. _I was feeling queasier and queasier.

"Hey, calm down, it's alright." Apollo said, smiling. _Alright!? _He called this alright!? Apollo had a twisted sense of what was alright. I open my mouth to yell at him, but he cut me off by touching his forehead to mine. Tingling sensations ran down my entire body, like someone had just poured painkillers into my system. I found myself relaxing. "Do you want me to apologize for liking you?"

His lips brushed mine again. I forgot about resisting. I felt so very calm, too calm… but then, reality smacked me in the face and I had enough sense to turn my head and break the kiss. No, I didn't want Apollo to kiss me. He disguised himself as his son and took advantage of my private feelings in order to steal my first kiss.

"Why would you... you were _Will_... he's your_ son_!" If I vomited, I would make sure to aim at Apollo. He would deserve it. Also, maybe it'd get him to back up? He still had me trapped against the door.

"Me and him have similar tastes." Apollo said with a devious smirk. "And I don't mind sharing." _Sharing!?_ The idea was revolting.

His hands started to wander again. He started to rub my thighs, slowly getting dangerously close to my groin. Fear pounded through my veins as I squirmed in vain. Oh gods, I did _not_ want him to touch me there. But, pinned like this to the door, I was at his mercy. He was too bright to shadow-travel with him so close. "Please don't." I whimpered. I hadn't felt this level of fear since my battle with Orion. However, that had been, in a way, a better fear, an easier fear.

I hated how powerless I felt.

Thankfully, Apollo's hands stopped. "I won't." He whispered into my ear. "Not until you want me to."

I shook my head fiercely. "I don't want you to. I won't ever want you to." I might have had a thing for his son, but Apollo was definitely not Will.

His wide grin sent shivers down my back. "But you want Will to. How long can you resist me when I can be him for you?" I found myself blinded again by light. When my vision recovered, the tanned god was gone and replaced with his much more pleasant son.

His eyes were still wrong. I tried to focus on that, rather than how my heart fluttered involuntarily at having Will (well, a fake Will) pinning me to the door.

"It's not the same." I tried to argue, tried to resist, but then he started touching me again. There was something funny about when Will – _no, Apollo_ – touched me. It send strange electricity into my veins, making me want more. It made me want him to touch me.

_No, stop. _I chastised myself. _I don't want him. _But, he did look an awful lot like Will. I was pretty sure that if I closed my eyes and ran my hands through his hair, it would feel like it was really Will. With every electric touch, Apollo encouraged my temptation to try.

A knock on the door saved me. Apollo froze and swore with annoyance. "You'll see me again, lover boy." He promised as he pressed his lips (Will's lips?) into mine one last time before vanishing in a flash of light.

The moment he vanished, the electricity that had been in my veins fizzled out. I crashed down to earth from that strange high and immediately felt like shit. My stomach was doing flips while my mind was reeling with horror.

It was terrifying how much control Apollo had exerted over my emotions and over my urges. Apollo had had me trapped in my own body, prisoner to whatever desires he wanted me to feel.

Tears started welling in the corners of my eyes as the true terror of the situation hit me: Apollo hadn't sounded like he was about to give up, and I had been disgustingly close to giving in. If he caught me alone again... the outcome was suffocating frightening.

I needed help. I didn't want to have to face him again.

A second knock. I realized that if, whoever was knocking, hadn't come... oh gods. Hyperventilating, I twisted around and yanked the door open.

It was Annabeth. Annabeth, my knight in shining armor.

"Hey Nico." She greeted, a clipboard in hand. "Jason and I were hoping to get you to help us move some ground for the shrine -" She didn't finish because I threw myself at her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. I was shaking and I couldn't stop. My breaths were coming out as ragged sobs.

I ended up knocking her over so that we were sitting on the porch, her rubbing my back. I realized that this was weird for both of us, but right now I needed it.

"Nico!" She gasped, "What's wrong?" At first, it was too hard to reply. I was shaking too much to find my voice. My head to replaying how Apollo had grinned at me, a grin that had made me feel like a hunted animal. "Are you hurt? What happened?" Annabeth started looking around frantically; whether for explanation or help, I wasn't sure.

"H-he... he s-said..." _He said he'd be back._ What was I going to do when I was trapped by Apollo a second time?

Annabeth's voice was raised by a few pitches. "How about we get you to the infirmary, Nico?"

The infirmary. Where Will was. No, I couldn't. That would mean telling Will_. I can't tell Will… I can't tell anyone._ The realization settled down onto me like the weight of the earth settled on Atlas. Imagine the uproar around camp if everyone found out that I'd become Apollo's latest boy-toy? Will would never look at me twice. He wouldn't want someone whom his father has his target set on. No, it'd be much better for me to handle the situation by myself.

"No!" I shout, jumping to my feet and stumbling away from her. "No, it's nothing. I'm fine. I don't know what got into me. I'm fine."

There had to be a way to deal with Apollo by myself. Biting my lip, I started to think quickly.

The issue now was Annabeth, who was very clearly worried. "Are you sure? Because -"

"I'm _fine!_" I was panicked; I couldn't help but yell at her when she insisted on pursuing the issue. My instincts told me to run, to avoid the situation. Turning on heel, I started to march back into my cabin. However, right as I was about to slam the door closed, Apollo's promise came back to me.

_You'll see me again, lover boy._

The moment I closed that door and isolated myself, Apollo could come back. No, I couldn't be alone. Not anymore.

A plan started to form quickly in my head. Apollo had left awfully quickly when Annabeth had arrived. It seemed like he wasn't interested in dealing with other people interfering… so, if Apollo couldn't get me alone, he couldn't try anything with me. If I kept myself from being available for him to harass, eventually he would get bored. Gods were awfully fickle like that.

Yea, that'd have to work. I wasn't sure how I'd keep myself from being alone, but I was sure I could figure it out. I had time.

Recalling Clovis' breathing techniques, I counted back down from ten before slowly turning around. Annabeth was picking herself up off the grass, looking utterly baffled. I cleared my throat and ask, "Um. So, uh, what were you asking about?" My voice wobbled.

Annabeth stared at me in shock. "Uhh... I was hoping you'd help us move some earth? I'm helping Jason with the newest shrine."

"Yes, I'd love to help." I declared, trying to keep my voice sounding as normal as possible.

"Uh, okay then." Annabeth replied tentatively, before starting to lead me across camp. She kept glancing back at me nervously, like I might suddenly have another break down on the way to the shrine.

On the edge of camp was where the shrine was to be located. Jason was waiting there, rubbing his chin as he examined some paperwork on his clipboard. He looked up as we approached. "Okay, hey guys!" As he was telling me about the stuff he needed moved, I found myself wondering how I was going to pull it off. Yes, I could rip holes in the earth, but I wasn't a bulldozer. Too bad I'd already agreed to help.

Annabeth wasn't very subtle when she darted over to Jason's side and started whispering in his ear. His expression changed to one of concern as she spoke. _Great, _I thought grumpily.

Focusing at tactfully ripping holes into the ground to drag certain rocks down, I pretended not to notice Jason until he was right beside me.

"Hey Nico, how are you doing?" Jason asked politely.

"I'm fine." I snap back. _Go away._

"Are you sure? Because Annabeth said -"

I cut him off. "I was a little flustered earlier, that's all."

"Flustered?" Jason tilted his head curiously, "Flustered over what?"

What was this, an interrogation? I'm pretty sure my attitude made it clear that I did not want to share what happened. This was the downfall of having friends: they never understood that there were some things you did not want to tell them, period.

"_Personal_ matters, Grace! It's nothing. Get off my back." Is what I snarled at him, before willing the holes in the earth to smash close. The earth was how he wanted it, more or less. "Done. Bye."

I turned and stormed away while their stares bore holes in my back.

My cabin wasn't a safe place to be any more. I hadn't a clue what I was going to do at night, but I knew I couldn't go there now. So, I stormed over and into the Hephaestus cabin. Leo looked up from his work, surprised. "Oh, hey Nico. I thought you left for the day?" He asked. I shrugged before grabbing my tongs and some railing and getting to work.

Work helped keep my mind off my problems.

The hammer clanked loudly as I whacked the railings together. Every swing of the hammer was a relief. Seeing the changes I was creating in the railing helped me get over how I'd felt powerless when Apollo had me pinned up against the door.

Apollo. The Greek God known in part for chasing a woman who wasn't interested in him to the point that she elected to turn into a tree to escape him. But I wasn't Daphne, and I did not want to become a laurel tree. Anger started to build up within me. It wasn't fair. I already had lost my mother and lost my sister, not to mention that I was the son of the god everyone feared. Why did Apollo have to make my life harder than it already was? Why couldn't he pick on someone else and let me keep what little happiness I had?

"Um, dude, are you alright?" Leo was standing by my shoulder, staring at the railings that I'd viciously hammered completely flat. _Oops._

"I'm fine." I huffed, blushing.

"... really? Cause you hammered that railing flatter than a penny. Also, you're kind of radiating shadows."

My arms did have darkness rolling off them, like some sort of anti-sun. "Oh. Sorry." I apologized, before closing my eyes and breathing deeply. I was safe here; there was no point in getting needlessly worked up.

"It's... no big deal." Leo murmured, rubbing the back of his head. He looked concerned, just like Jason and Annabeth. _Great_. Before the end of the day, everyone was going to know that something was wrong with me.

Pushing myself up, I coughed awkwardly. "I, uh, think I'm going to leave now." I didn't have a clue where I was going to go, but it didn't matter as long as I didn't have to answer a million questions about _what happened, what's wrong, are you okay?_

I was in the middle of putting my tools up when the door to the cabin opened and Will Solace – the real one, judging by his messy blond hair – poked his head in. "Hey Leo, is Nico -" Then he saw me and we stared at each other. _Oh shit. _I thought. "Oh, there you are."

My stomach felt queasy again. Yes, this was normal Will, with his wrinkled Camp Half-Blood shirt and sky blue eyes. Will walked over to me, looking concerned. Immediately, I knew that Annabeth and Jason must have got to him.

Sure enough, he confirmed my fears by saying, "Nico, Annabeth said you were distraught earlier. What happened?" As he approached, I backed up. My body was reacting all on its own, with my heart speeding up and unnecessary yearning building up within me. I found myself wondering if kissing Will was nicer than kissing Apollo.

Even with Leo there, I had the urge to pull Will close and find out.

My back bumped into the wall of the cabin. "I'm fine." I growled at Will.

He grabbed my hands and I had to lock my legs to keep them from giving out. "Then why is your heart racing?" Damn those Apollo gifts of his.

"Um... it's hot in here. In the forge."

"Nico," Will told me sternly, "You're a terrible liar." He slipped his fingers in between mine. Because I was distracted by how well our hands fit together, Will was able to drag me out of the cabin before I could really register what was happening.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I stumbled behind him.

"I'm taking you to the infirmary. Something's wrong with you and I'm going to find out what."

It's like Will knew exactly what to say to frustrate me more. There was no way in Tartarus that I was going to let him find out what happened. Now, a ton of stupid medical tests wouldn't give anything away, but I can't say I was thrilled at the idea of being subjected to them_. No thank you!_

That's when I had the brilliant idea to run. After all, I was pretty sure I was faster than Will. If he couldn't catch me, he couldn't torture me with his random medical tests.

I slipped my hand out of his and started looking around for the best route.

Will frowned at me, "Nico, what do you think you're -?" That's when I started my escape. I took off like a hellhound, my shoes pounding on the grass as I ran. "Gods dammit, Nico!" I heard Will shout before he started to run after me.

There really weren't many places to go. None of the cabins had locks on the doors and, even if they did, I was pretty sure Will would have busted the doors down anyways. He was tenacious like that. No, the only place I had a chance at hiding in was the forest, so that's where I headed.

I dashed through the center of camp, dodging confused demigods as I went. Surprisingly, Will kept up; by the time I was cutting through the sword fighting arena, he was practically on my heels.

Percy was in the middle of teaching a sword fighting class. "'Scuse me!" I shouted as I pushed my way through his students.

"Wow, what's going on?" Percy yelped as I shoved past him too. I was too busy running to answer him. Continuing past him, I started climbing the slope surrounding the sword fighting arena.

One risked glance over my shoulder revealed that Will was right behind me. _Shit_, I thought, _I didn't think he was that fast. _Some of my steam was starting to run out. My lungs were starting to burn and my legs were a different kind of numb then they had been when Will had gotten close.

"You guys are a weird couple!" If I hadn't been so focused on running away, I would have turned around and summoned some skeletons to harass Percy for that asinine comment that he shouted at us.

I reached the top of the hill and a surge of victory rushed through me. The edge of the forest was only a short dash away. Laughing, I doubled my efforts as I powered forward. All the adrenaline pounding through my system felt great; in the moment, I forgot about my worries. Honestly, I found myself thinking that I should run more often.

And then I slipped on a patch of wet grass.

I face planted straight into the ground in the most ungraceful way. I wasn't hurt, but I did end up with a disgusting mouthful of dirt and debris. Hefting myself back to my feet, I started spitting frantically. _Ew, ew, ew._

And then I was knocked back to the ground again when Will tackled me.

"HA!" He shouted, his arms wrapping around my torso. Growling, I struggled against his grip. That's how we ended up wrestling on the ground for a little while.

No, I will not admit how much I liked it. Don't ask. Officially, I was trying to escape so that he wouldn't preform a hundred stupid medical tests on me. Yes, I know, I was grinning the whole time. I don't see how that's relevant.

Anyways, I would have won, except Will discovered a weakness of mine.

"Oh gods, no!" I yelped as I tried to crunch up. Unfortunately, Will had managed to get on top of me and was straddling my waist. There was no way for me to effectively protect myself from his ruthless onslaught.

Will started laughing manically, "Oh, look at that! The great son of Hades is ticklish!" His fingers dug into my sides, inciting nerves. Squirming instinctively, I tried and failed to push him off.

"You're pure evil!" I gasped in between involuntary giggles.

Laughter peeled out of my attacker. "At last, my true nature is revealed!" He shouted playfully. Finally, his fingers stilled and I managed to catch my breath. A satisfied smile was plastered on Will's face.

Again, the way he looked at me reminded me of the hunger that Apollo had in his gaze. Yet, there was a big difference between the two: Will's gaze was much softer and much sweeter than Apollo's.

I liked Will's look a lot more.

Heat rushed to my face. "Get off, you big lug!" I grumbled as I glared at him hotly. When I tried to push him off again, he caught my wrists and held them.

"I will, in a second. Just let me enjoy this moment." Will smirked down at me.

A few long seconds passed as Will stared down at me through narrowed eyes. His entire face and ears was pink, but that might have been due to the exercise from wrestling. Meanwhile, my cheeks got redder and redder. Finally, though, he did roll off me. Sighing with relief, I started to climb back up to my feet.

And then the ground disappeared from under me as Will's shoulder pressed into my stomach and his arms grabbed my legs. I found myself half inverted, hanging over Will's shoulder. "What the fuck, Will!" I yelped.

"This is what happens when you don't cooperate!" Will declared as he started to carry me back to camp.

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

**- x - x - AUTHOR'S NOTES - x - x -**

So, I barely survived finals week! I hope finals went well for yall? :P If it didn't, at least you can rest easily knowing Apollo's not after you, right?

For a link to extra tidbits that accompany these chapters, check out my profile!


	5. Inquiries

**. x .**

**COBALT BLUE**

_Chapter Five: **Inquiries**_

I decided to let Will win. He was too exhausting to run from.

However, as we walked through camp, I glared daggers at everyone we passed, daring them silently to laugh at my predicament. There was an army of skeletons that I could summon easily for anyone who thought seeing the son of Hades thrown over the shoulder of a healer was funny.

Most demigods were smart enough to bite their tongue as we passed, with only a few exceptions. When we passed Percy, who was still teaching his sword fighting class, he fell over onto the ground in a fit of laughter.

He stopped laughing the moment that a couple of skeletons crawled their way out of the ground and started to claw at him.

Leo and Calypso were sitting outside the Hephaestus cabin when Will and I passed. I heard her ask Leo, "Is this some sort of custom I am unaware of?"

"Nah," Leo replied, grinning cheekily, "That's just good old flirting."

I sent some skeletons after him too.

Kayla balked when Will walked into the infirmary with me over his shoulder. "Hello Kayla, I have brought us a new patient!" He informed her cheerfully.

"Um. I can see that." She replied nervously, eying me like I might summon a zombie army at any moment (which really wasn't too bad of an idea).

As annoying as it was, I let Will perform a myriad of medical tests on me. Not only did he get my vitals but he drew blood, tested my reflexes, and asked me a billion medical history questions. ("No, I don't remember what vaccinations I got back in the 1940s, Will.")

I only started to argue when he rolled out an EKG machine and insisted on hooking me up.

"My heart's fine." I snapped.

"I don't care. Now take your shirt off before I take it off for you." Will commanded stubbornly.

I blushed and spluttered a few ancient Greek cuss words. It was Kayla who saved me. She strutted into the room, hands on her hips. "Will, this machine isn't a toy." She chastised him, before grabbing the machine and rolling it away.

On that note, I wasn't sure how the Apollo healers had gotten their paws on an EKG machine. There wasn't a lot of technology around camp. Part of the reason was that tech that was capable of wireless signals attracted monsters, but it also didn't help that Chiron didn't really see the need for most technology.

"You know, if you just told me what happened, I wouldn't have to do all this." Will mumbled so softly that I almost didn't hear him. I understood, though. Will knew just as well as I did that these tests were unnecessary; my issues weren't health-related. This was just his way to trying to pester me into opening up.

With the EKG ix-nayed by Kayla, Will started to chew his lip and flip through his paperwork. I could tell he was running out of tests. It was kind of touching how his worry for me was making him go way overboard.

Before he could invent any medical tests, Austin, one of Will's siblings, suddenly burst through the curtains. "Will, I need to borrow you. Clarisse got poisoned by something, so we need to draw blood… but, well, you know how she is…"

"_Get that needle away from me!"_ Clarisse's voice screamed from the other room.

Sighing, Will dropped his clipboard on the nearest counter. "Yea, I'll come. I don't understand how a daughter of Ares is so terrified of needles, though!" Will then fixed me with a glare. "Don't leave." He commanded, before turning and following Austin through the curtains.

I was alone.

_Breathe, _I told myself as I started to nervously twist my skeleton ring around my finger. Fear was creeping in. I was alone, which meant that Apollo could show up. _I'm not safe, _I thought miserably as I eyed the curtains around me.

When the curtains moved, I jolted off the gurney bed so quickly that I propelled myself straight into the counter. Pain shot through my hip, causing me to hiss.

Rachel Dare stared at me with confusion. Or, it could have easily been Apollo pretending to be Rachel. My eyes inspected the girl in front of me cautiously. I relaxed when I noticed that she didn't have the aura of perfection that Apollo exuded whenever he was pretending to be someone. Rachel's crazy red hair was dirty with paint flecks and there were a few dots of acne on her cheeks.

"You alright?" She said, eyeing my hip.

"Fine." I answered curtly. I wasn't sure what she was doing here, visiting me. Typically, Rachel was too busy doing whatever oracles do during the day time. "Did you want something?"

Rachel stuck her hands into her blue jean's pockets and half smiled. "Sorta. I heard something happened today?"

Great. Another overly concerned soul. I let out a tortured sigh. "No. Nothing happened. Go away." Rubbing my hip, I walked back over to the bed and sat back down.

"Then why did I feel a god's presence earlier today?" Her question caught me off guard. That didn't sound like an ability the oracle should have. Besides that, I was under the impression that her oracle powers were still out of commission.

"W-what? How could you even –"

She cut me off with a wave of a hand. "It's one of the things that I learned from Pan before he died. Now, the presence felt like was coming from the Hades cabin, but I wasn't sure at first."

I stayed silent, mortified by what she knew. It was only a piece of the puzzle, but it was enough to give Annabeth, Jason, and Will a lead. Knowing how inquisitive those three could be, a single lead could evolve into my secret being discovered.

Rachel took a few steps closer to me, the corners of her lips turned down with worry. "Nico, if you tell me what happened, I swear on the River Styx that I will not tell anyone else. Everything you say to me is confidential."

Blinking, I gaped at the unexpected offer. All I could manage was some sass to cover up how nervous I was. "What are you, the camp psychiatrist?" Rachel's offer was surprisingly tempting.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Gotta make myself useful somehow, what with the power of the oracle still gone." Rachel inched over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, about a foot away. "Now, what happened?"

I'm not really sure why, but I started spilling my guts to her. Maybe it was because I really wanted, _needed_, an ally.

Voice shaking, I told her about how Will had been acting weird on and off, how I had suspected something, and then… Apollo. The whole time, she listened dutifully, nodding and occasionally _ooh_ing sadly. Normally, I wasn't that big on talking but the words kept pouring out. This is how I knew that I had become crazy: I even confessed to Rachel that I liked Will more than as a friend, which was among several reasons why I was so abject to the idea of Apollo.

At no point did Rachel seem to judge me. Concern was etched into her features from the moment I started my story to when I ended with tears burning at the edges of my eyes.

"Oh gods, Nico. That's awful. And he said he was coming back?" Rachel asked when I finished.

"Yes." My voice was shaking, "He said he won't give up until I… give in."

Rachel stared at me for a long moment before stating, "What an asshole."

Her comment was so unexpected that a few half-hearted giggles bubbled out of me. "Yea…" I took a deep breath, before divulging to her, "I'm afraid that when I'm alone, he'll come back." My voice shrunk to a guilty whisper. "I don't feel safe in my own cabin."

Rachel tilted her head curiously. "No offense, but can't you go hide in the Underworld?"

"No," I replied with a huff, "my father cut off my access to the Underworld about a year ago. He thought my visits to the dead were making me depressed and antisocial… or something like that. I'm stuck here."

"Oh." Rachel said, frowning. A silence settled over us, while I contemplated my own doom and Rachel stared wistfully at her mismatched, painted nails. "Well… would you like a new roommate?"

I whipped my head up to stare at her. "What?"

"The Big House's attic isn't exactly the nicest place anyways. I'll think of it as a vacation onto ground-level!" I wasn't sure what to say. She took my hesitation as a sign to add, "Don't worry, I know I can get Chiron to agree."

Part of me wanted to say no. Part of me wanted to be self-sufficient, strong, and solitary. A son of Hades should be able to handle his own issues without getting a mortal involved, right? However, my fear was stronger than my pride.

I doubted Apollo would try anything on me with others in my cabin with me. The things he had implied that he wanted to do weren't things that were best done around other people. The fact that Rachel was immune from the powers of mist, godly or otherwise, was just the icing on the top of the cake. While Apollo might be able to use the mist to trick others into looking the other way, it wouldn't work with Rachel Dare.

"Okay." I agreed. Rachel smiled.

"Okay, I'm back!" The curtains moved as Will ducked through them. There were some new blood splatters on his orange camp shirt. He stopped when he saw Rachel, blinking in confusion.

"Hello Will!" Rachel greeted pleasantly.

"Hi Rachel." Will replied apprehensively. "What's going on?"

"I was just talking to Nico." She replied, "Everything's under control now, though."

His eyes suspiciously darted back and forth between me and Rachel. Tensing up, I held my breath. Maybe Will would accept what Rachel said and let the issue go?

Nope. Will stepped forward, grabbed Rachel by the arm, and dragged her out of the curtained examine room. The moment the curtain flapped back into place, they started whispering back and forth, but they weren't loud enough for me to catch any specific words.

I was very glad that Rachel had sworn on the River Styx. While I wished I could hear what they were discussing, at least I knew that Rachel wasn't about to tell Will the truth.

When they came back into the room, Rachel looked cheerful and Will looked defeated.

"Well, it's all settled!" She announced.

"Yea…" Will said. He had a small scowl on his face and looked kind of agitated as he stared at me.

"Alright, I'm off to talk to Chiron! I'll see you later tonight, Nico." With that, Rachel turned and sashayed out of the room.

There was an awkward pause after she left. I stared down at the ground, feeling guilty. No matter how disappointed Will looked, I couldn't tell him what was wrong. While I played nervously with the skull ring on my finger, he toyed with his stethoscope.

"So, um." He said finally, breaking the silence. "It's dinner time... wanna head there together?"

"Oh. Okay. Yea." I mumbled in reply.

Everyone else was already at the Hades table when we arrived. Our friends greeted us with grins and scooted aside to make room for us to sit side-by-side. It was a tight fit, causing our thighs to touch. Shyness piled on top of my guilt.

While everyone else at the table chatted animatedly, I ate in silence. Last summer, Will and I had become very good friends. I had opened up to him about my life in Italy, my mother's dead, Bianca's death, and more. While there were some very personal things I kept to myself (like my romantic _preferences_), I hadn't really hid anything from him. It was kind of weird to be doing so now, especially since he knew there was something up.

Will, the guy who'd shoved carrots into his lips and impersonated a walrus the day before, was quiet as he ate. I hated it. He looked sad, which wasn't a look that ever belonged on his sunny face.

It was as the others started to finish and leave the table that he whispered to me softly, "I don't understand why you can tell her but not me." I could hear the hurt in his voice.

I nearly choked on my mac 'n' cheese. Coughing, I whispered back, "Um. Look, Will, it's not a big deal. Don't worry about it."

The look he fixed me with resembled that of a kicked puppy. "Do you not trust me?"

A little part of me died on the inside. He sounded very sad. My voice wobbled when I spoke. "N-no, I do. It's... it's a personal issue."

Will leaned a little closer, his sad eyes inquiring. "Personal?" He whispered.

"Dammit, Will..." I murmured, biting my lower lip. His beautiful, sky blue irises were tempting me to inch towards the truth. "It's... kind of... _romantic_ stuff."

The sadness flushed off of Will's face, replaced by a blush and wide eyes. "Oh. Romantic stuff."

"Yea. Romantic stuff." I echoed dismissively. _To put it one way._ Anxious, I focused on shoving the leftover food on my plate around with my fork.

When I glanced back up at Will, there was a small frown on his face. "What... kind of romantic stuff?"_ Oh, gods dammit, _I thought with irritation when I heard the melancholy in his tone. Will was taking my secretiveness personally.

But, no matter what, I couldn't tell him! The situation was beyond my control! It didn't matter how much it hurt him (and therefore hurt me), I couldn't explain it to him.

The sadness was sneaking back onto his face as I hesitated. I was frustrated.

With exasperation, I exploded, "Gods Will, maybe I'm not telling you because it has to do with you!" I slammed my fork into the table for emphasize, burying the tines in the wood.

The outburst caught the attention of everyone nearby to us. Blushing under all the attention, I pushed my food to the side, dropped my head onto the table, and groaned.

Will started to giggle. I risked a quick, annoyed glance at him. He didn't look sorrowful any more.

"Romantic stuff… that has something to do with me?" He asked, his eyes glittering playfully.

My heart started to race. _Oops, _I thought as I realized what I had just implied. I went on the defensive and snapped at him, "Shut up, Will."

Will gave me an odd smile, which caused skeletal butterflies to awaken in my stomach.

After dinner, when Will took my hand as he was walking me back to my cabin, I didn't pull away.

Rachel was unpacking her stuff when I got back to the cabin. In no time, she was settled into a bunk in the far corner of the cabin. I decided to keep my negative opinions on her bed spread (it was printed with some childish looking cartoon panda), her pillows (one of which was shaped like a unicorn), and her paint splattered easel to myself, since her moving in was a favor to me.

I could deal with clashing decor in exchange for the protection of having her there.

The next few days proceeded without anything out of the ordinary, with the exception of how I didn't get a moment of privacy. During the day, I surrounded myself with people. At night, Rachel was there, painting on her easel in the corner of the cabin. I even left the bathroom door slightly ajar when I showered, just in case Apollo felt like attacking when I was most vulnerable.

I dragged myself into the infirmary every day and did my best not to blush too much when Will was working on the wrappings on my arm. Despite all that happened on Saturday, Will was back to his normal self... well, for the most part. There were small changes: like how his fingers lingered longer than necessary on my skin when he took my vitals, sparking electricity within me.

Jason and Percy were thrilled when I showed up at their classes and offered to help. In these classes, I found myself surrounded by curious, younger campers. It was weird to talk with all of them staring at me. The kids seemed nervous around me at first, but I noticed that, by Tuesday, they had warmed up to me.

On Tuesday morning, I was helping Percy with his sword fighting class. While Percy helped one point correct his stance, several of the other kids swarmed around me. Without any warning, they started peppering me with random questions.

"Is it true you've been to Tartarus?"

"Can you really raise a skeleton army?"

"My brother says you can go visit the underworld whenever you want!"

"Can I touch your sword?"

"What's it feel like when you shadow-travel?"

"Do you still play Mythomagic?"

My head was spinning. "Uhhhh." Was the only response I could manage during the onslaught of questions. Some of the questions were downright inappropriate, after all. When the questions halted, the five or six kids around me waited patiently for answers while I stared at them in shock.

I gulped. _They're just kids, _I reminded myself, before breathing deeply. I could give them answers. "Yes, yes, not any more, absolutely not, it's kind of indescribable, and no."

Before the kids could come up with more questions, Percy showed up at my side and shooed them back to training.

"They're an inquisitive group." He chuckled.

"Yea, I can tell." I replied.

After the class, it was time to go get my bandages changed. Kayla didn't bother getting up when I entered the infirmary. Instead, she pressed two fingers to her lips and whistled. Will darted around the corner almost instantly.

I couldn't help but notice how she was grinning as Will dragged me to our usual room.

Today, after Will finished pulling off the old bandages, he hesitated. As I watched curiously, he pulled out a cloth and dabbed at the gunk on my arms.

"Looks like it's all done." He used the cloth to wipe off the rest of the smelly gunk off my arms. All the pot marks and scars I'd collected over the winter and spring were gone. Will tossed the cloth into the nearest trash bin.

_Huh._ Since operation erase-my-scars was finished, that meant I didn't have to find time every day to visit the infirmary. That should have made me happy... but it didn't. I felt kind of sad. Will seemed bummed too.

It was as he was taking off his gloves that he commented offhandedly. "I'm gonna miss you visiting every day. I always look forward to seeing you..." He trailed off shyly, his ears red.

I started twirling my skeleton ring around on my finger as my heart sped up. _Me too _is what I wanted to say, but I couldn't find the courage to say it.

Will chucked his gloves into the trash can and then smiled at me. "Maybe we can go get McDonalds sometime?" He winked at me. I had to fight the urge to jump off the gurney, grab his face, and kiss him. I didn't know how he knew that I had a moderate obsession with McDonalds – or maybe it was just coincidental – but I didn't care.

Also... was he asking me out on a date? Now I was blushing more than him. "Oh. Um." My voice was squeaky, so I coughed and cleared my throat, "Yea. S-sure. That'd be, uh, nice."

His wide smile was blinding.

"Will," Kayla interrupted as she poked her head through the curtain, making both of us jump, "I've got a camper who got stabbed in the arm."

"Oh! Okay. I'm coming." Will promised, but he didn't move when Kayla disappeared through the curtains. Before I could ask in a sassy fashion if he was going to _actually go help_ _or what_, he leaned over and planted a kiss on my cheek.

I froze, heat spreading through my face.

"See you at dinner!" Will chuckled before running out of the room.

After my legs stopped feeling like jelly, I showed myself out. I wasn't much of a gossiper, but I kind of wanted to share what had happened with someone. Will had _kissed _me on cheek, voluntarily! Just the memory of it made me want to giggle like a little girl. My feelings were still relatively conflicted, especially considering that Apollo could still be pursuing me, but... I couldn't resist being happy about it.

If Reyna hadn't been on the other side of the continent, I would have talked to her about it. She'd become like a sister to me over the years. Heck, she even went so far as to bring me neat presents every time she came to visit (although, last time she brought me a toga, which I had no plans to ever wear). Reyna would probably have had great advice for me. _Oh well, _I message wasn't private enough to discuss this issues.

Since Reyna wasn't an option, my mind wandered to Rachel. She definitely wasn't Reyna – she was messier, louder, borderline childish – but there was something about her that reminded me of Reyna. Maybe it was how trustworthy she was? How comfortable I felt around her? Just like Reyna, Rachel didn't seem off put by the fact that I was a child of Hades. It was kind of like both of them saw right through my heritage and simply saw a normal guy.

They were both weird like that.

I decided to go talk to Rachel. I wasn't sure if she was at the Hades cabin, but checking was easy. Prying the door to my cabin open, I peered into the cabin and called out, "Rachel? You home?"

What I didn't expect to find was Percy Jackson, looking up from where he had been digging through Rachel's stuff. "Oh!" He began, "Hi Nico. Sorry, I was looking for something for Rachel. She wanted me to get some book for her. She and Annabeth are studying ancient architecture or something weird like that."

"It's alright." I replied with a shrug as I entered the cabin and closed the door behind me. Having unexpected visitors, I supposed, was one of the downfalls of sharing a cabin. "It's not like this is just my cabin anymore." Percy didn't look like he was having any success digging through Rachel's stuff, so I decided to help. Anyways, I could follow him back to Annabeth and Rachel afterward – maybe I'd be able to drag the latter girl away so I could tell her about what happened between me and Will?

As I crouched down next to Percy and the bookshelf that Rachel had stacked her books and supplies, he shot me a thankful grin. "She said it's a book about Victorian architecture... but I kind of forgot what it was titled." It was good to know that Percy was still as clueless as ever.

I rolled my eyes and started to dig through the piles of books.

After about a minute of searching, Percy asked me abruptly, "So why is Rachel staying here?"

Luckily, Rachel and I had already discussed our story beforehand. "She's been helping me keep my nightmares away." I lied with a shrug. In a way, our forged story was kind of true.

"Well, I'm always up for a sleepover, if you need extra help." The nudge and wink that Percy gave me was kind of peculiar, but I didn't think too much of it. Percy was a silly, playful person.

When I'd first came out of the closet and told Percy that I used tohave a crush on him, Percy had been respectful yet very reserved. Over the course of that following year, he had gradually gotten friendlier but was always cautious to not be _too_ friendly. But, the summer after spending a year away at New Rome College, Percy had went back to treating me like one of the boys.

"Right." I snorted in reply.

Why did Rachel have so many books? Most of them were obnoxiously thick, with tiny serif print. Personally, I enjoyed reading – there was nothing better than a good mystery novel - but none of Rachel's books looked even remotely interesting.

"Seriously though." Percy insisted, placing a hand on my shoulder. "We could have pillow fights, decorate this place with Christmas lights, who knows, it might be nice." As he spoke, Percy started to lean closer to me, seriously invading my personal space. I might not have had a crush on Percy any more, but that didn't make me any less uncomfortable having him so close.

Wait, did Percy just speak poetically? Fights, lights, nice... that rhymed.

Percy turned to face me. His hand pushed on my shoulder, knocking me back onto my rear. "I can think of a lot of fun things we can do." Murmured Percy. My nerves were set on fire when he started to crawl on top of me, pushing me down against the floor as he did so. When I was a kid, I had dreamed about something like this happening. I had spent years of my life hung up over Percy.

Percy's gaze was hungry. I found myself enchanted by his beautiful sea green eyes.

Then, there was a split second where those sea green eyes flashed a cobalt blue. It happened so quickly that I wasn't sure if I had imagined it.

_Oh gods, _I gasped as Percy leaned down and kissed me.

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

**- x - x - AUTHOR'S NOTES - x - x -**

This chapter is a bit longer than the rest because it was originally two chapters. I decided to combine them so that you all could enjoy that lovely cliffhanger sooner. C:

Also, I'll be posting up a new Solangelo story later night, just FYI!

For a link to extra tidbits that accompany these chapters, check out my profile!


	6. Evidence

**. x .**

**COBALT BLUE**

_Chapter Six: **Evidence**_

His lips tasted a bit like salt water. Admittedly, there was a good second or two where I considered sinking into the kiss. Nostalgic yearning burned within my veins.

_What about Will? _I asked myself as Percy gently sucked on my lower lip. Thinking about Will helped me wake up.

This wasn't Percy.

No, this was undeniably Apollo. Percy was straight; I had accepted that and moved on a long time ago. Apollo was trying a new angle today by appearing as my old crush.

A small trickle of fear worked it's way into my brain and I twisted my head, breaking the kiss. "No!" I gasped. Panting heavily, I tried to shove the fake Percy off me, but he caught my arms and pinned them against over my head with one hand. Just like before, I could feel electricity entering my system wherever Percy – well, Apollo really - touched me.

"Come on, Nico. I know you want this." Percy whispered into my ear. "You had a crush on Percy Jackson for the longest time. Don't you want his lips against yours? Don't you want him to touch you like this?" That last comment was accompanied by his hand, trailing it's way up the side of my hip. A moan escaped my lips.

"No..." I murmured meekly. The electricity entering my veins was confusing me. Did I want this? I couldn't remember. My heart was hammering so hard that it was painful. Meanwhile, certain parts of me were getting excited like they had a mind of their own.

Percy started grinding his hips against mine and I moaned again. Pleasure surged through me with every movement he made. He was grinning but it wasn't a Percy sort of grin; no, it was Apollo's mischievous grin.

"But you do want it." Percy growled delightfully.

He leaned down and started kissing me again.

I struggled to break my mind free of his control. _No, I want Will. I don't want Percy. I don't want Apollo. I don't want this. _I focused on Will in my mind, thinking about his gentle flirting and the lazy way he smiled. It helped. I garnered enough sense to turn my head and break the kiss again. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to dissuade Apollo very much.

He started to kiss down my neck and along collarbone, biting and sucking as he went. A third, louder moan creaked from my throat. I couldn't help myself – it felt _good_ – but my chest was full of panic. _No, stop, _is I wanted to say, but all I could manage was frustrated tears.

Then the door to the cabin opened. A shocked Rachel Dare stood at the entrance.

Seeing Rachel caused sense to rush back to me. I screeched her name, "_Rachel!"_

She ended up not needing to do anything. Percy muttered some ancient Greek cusses under his breath before fixing me with a determined look. "In time." He promised darkly, before becoming encapsulated in light. His weight disappeared from on top of me as the light shimmered and vanished.

Like last time, the electricity faded from my veins and I went from feeling lustful and dazed to tired and panicked in about three seconds.

As Rachel rushed over to my side, I curled up and bawled like a baby.

Rachel sat by my bed side, petting my hair and telling me that I was going to be okay. I was too shaken to go anywhere. So, the pair of us stayed in the Hades cabin as the sun dipped into the horizon. Since we both missed dinner, there was a point where she offered me some crackers. I choked them down between sobs.

Eventually, I cried myself to sleep.

In my dreams, I sat down with Clovis in his cabin and drank hot chocolate. Despite the fact that I was shaking at first (with panic and fear tight around my heart), Clovis hadn't asked what was wrong. Clovis was one of the few demigods that didn't push for information. I liked that about him.

Rachel woke me up. "Good morning! The Cabin Counselor meeting is this morning!" She purred as she threw back the curtains and let the light in. Yawning, I sat up and breathed deeply. I felt better today. Sleep had helped calm me.

Now, don't get me wrong. I was still terrified of what Apollo could do to me. But, watching Rachel hum as she picked out which paint splattered t-shirt she was going to wear today reminded me that the world wasn't over.

There was no reason to become an emotional mess (at least, not yet). I hadn't exhausted all of my options, after all.

Maybe it was finally time to look for assistance from the other gods? The idea of asking my father scared the heck out of me as I hadn't told him about my _preferences, _but luckily I didn't have to ask him. There was a whole array of shrines at the edges of camp, thanks to Jason, where I could shop around for some godly assistance. At some point today, I would have to swing by those shrines.

Rolling out of bed, I started to gather my clothes for the day. I tucked a pair of fresh boxer briefs, dark blue jeans, and a black t-shirt under my arm and headed into the bathroom. I turned the shower on and climbed on in. The initial, freezing water helped wake me up.

When I emerged a few minutes later, showered and dressed, Rachel was ready too.

"Okay, let's go." I said as I opened and headed out the door. Only, I didn't make it out the door. Rachel grabbed my collar and yanked me back inside, slamming the door shut with her foot. I stumbled backward, growling with anger. "What the hell!" I snapped as I dodged out of her grasp. My anger abruptly fizzled out when I saw the look of horror on her face.

"Nico... you have hickies."

Hickies? "Uh, what?"

"On your neck... a lot of hickies." She muttered softly before biting her bottom lip with concern.

Without waiting for more comments from her, I turned and darted back into the bathroom. Sure enough, after I wiped the mist off the mirror with a hand, I found a trail of dark red bruises leading down the side of my neck and onto my collarbone. The world seemed to slow down as I stared at the evidence of Apollo's work.

Will was going to see them.

I started to freak out. "Shit, shit, shit!" I hissed, clasping my hands on my mouth and breathing raggedly.

Rachel rushed into the bathroom after me, scowling. "It's not the end of the world... um. Uh. Maybe we can hide them?"

Suddenly, I was very thankful that Rachel was a girl. "Make up!" I gasped as I turned to her and grabbed her shoulders. "Do you have make up!?"

She frowned a guilty frown. "Uh, no, actually. And I don't know if make up would be able to cover those – they're pretty dark, Nico." As I groaned loudly, she added, "But I have another idea!"

Rachel darted out of the bathroom. I spent the next minute gazing sadly at the mirror until she returned, wielding a black scarf speckled with green and yellow paint. She wrapped it around my neck and grinned like she had just solved everything.

"Rachel... it's eighty degrees outside. No one is going to buy this." Besides that, it was pretty obviously not my scarf. I yanked the scarf off and let it drop to the floor. I was pretty well doomed! My life was effectively over! Will was going to find out about Apollo and he wouldn't like me anymore. Burying my face in my hands, I backed up against the wall and slid down onto the floor.

Meanwhile, Rachel was rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Wait. I got it." She proclaimed before disappearing into the room again. When she came back, she had her watercolor paint and a paint brush. I stared at her like she was crazy (because I was pretty sure she was).

"You must be _joking_." I stated incredulously.

She wasn't joking.

Three minutes later, my neck and arms were dotted with paint. When I looked in the mirror, I grimaced. "This is stupid." I grumbled to Rachel. Unfortunately, it was the best idea we had.

"Eh, I think it's great! You look like a Jackson Pollock!"

"Who?"

"Never mind. But anyways, if anyone asks, just say you lost a bet to me."

I let out a long sigh and accepted my fate.

We were late to the Camp Counselor meeting. The moment I opened the door to the meeting room, all eyes settled on me. Snickers broke out almost immediately. Blushing, I glared down at my shoes. _This is so stupid, _I thought bitterly.

Rachel pushed me all the way into the room before going to join Chiron at the front of the table. On the other side of the table, a giggling Will met my gaze and patted an open seat next to him at the table.

I ignored the amused looks on the faces of Jason, Percy, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth as I quickly paced over to the chair beside Will and sat down. "Not a word." I growled at Will before he could even ask.

It was Chiron who asked. "Nico, why are you covered in paint?"

Rachel grinned at me in encouragement. I breathed deeply, before huffing, "... I lost a bet to Rachel." There was more laughter from around the table. Travis and Connor nodded and began to tell Rachel how much they approved of the punishment. Percy and Jason were doubled over with giggles.

"I like it." Will whispered into my ear, despite me having explicitly told him not to say anything. I kicked his leg under the table and scowled shyly.

Once everyone had calmed down, the meeting began. This meeting was full of the typical items, including Capture the Flag teams, strawberry farming, and the chore itineraries. I was half-listening as the other cabin heads began to talk about how to divide up this week's stable duties.

Pressure on my thigh snapped me awake. My breath caught in my throat as I glanced at Will through the corner of my eye. Will had a ghost of a smile on his face, but his attention was glued on Annabeth, who was currently listening the stable duties.

Will's hand was on my thigh. For half a second, I worried that maybe he was actually Apollo, what with this forward behavior. But no, it was definitely my Will; his blond hair was messy and his orange shirt had a rip in the sleeve.

His hand began to move, squeezing as his thumb rubbed back and forth. His hand stayed in the middle of my thigh, not close enough to touch anything important, but it was in an intimate enough area to incite a certain sort of heat.

Twitching my other leg nervously, I leaned closer to Will and hissed hotly, "_Will._" He didn't reply, continuing to listen with interest to the meeting. His hand started to migrate a little higher; it was still not touching the sensitive areas, but I had to bite my lip to keep myself from making embarrassing noises. "_Will. Will!_" I hissed again, more frantically.

Will looked over at me lazily, the edges of his lips twitching. "Yes?" He whispered back.

I gawked at him. "Y-you shouldn't... not h-here..." I managed to whisper weakly, my face hot. Everyone at the table was going to notice and what then? However, even with that taken into consideration, I wasn't sure if I really wanted him to stop. _Argh!_ It was annoying yet irresistible.

"Shouldn't what?" He whispered back playfully, his sky blue eyes glimmering mischievously.

His thumb stopped an inch from the crook of my thigh and pressed into my jeans. Grabbing the table, I had to bite back a whimper. When it came to Will, it was like my body reacted on its own. I heard him chuckling beside me.

"Okay, I think that's all for this meeting." Chiron announced suddenly. The other cabin heads began to get up. Will's hand lingered for a moment more before he removed it and stood up. I tried to hide my embarrassment by glaring at him, but he only smiled at me.

It was a good thing that I was wearing jeans today. They helped hide a problem that Will's touching had created.

"Want to come help me in the infirmary today?" He asked me, grinning.

I probably should have said no, what with the hickies hidden under the paint. The less time I spent around Will, the less chance he'd notice them. However, a _yes _slipped out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

Will was starting to feel like an addiction. A sexy, fun, and frustrating addiction.

As we walked into the infirmary, Will joked, "I still haven't got you that name plaque!" I rolled my eyes as he flipped his plaque to the name side. We continued past the front desk and towards the back. Will lead me into an alcove tucked at the back of the infirmary that had a bunch of desks and cabinets. The desks were messy, with poetry and musical scores mixed in with medical paper work.

Will opened one of the closets and dug out two scrub shirts. He threw one at me. Before I could argue, Will told me flatly that _rules ares rules_. Narrowing my eyes at him, I considering challenging him. After all, what was wrong with my plain t-shirt? It's not like I'd be preforming any surgeries or something.

But then a crazy idea came to me. If Will could tease me, why couldn't I tease him back? Boldness welled up within me.

"Well?" Will said, raising an eye brow as he nodded his head in the direction of a little bathroom next to the alcove.

Before I could chicken out of my crazy idea, I yanked my black t-shirt off.

Working in the forge wasn't the only thing I did during the eight months while Will was gone. During the rest of my free time, I had trained. Archery, sword fighting, rock climbing – you name it. My training had resulted sculpted muscles on my abdomen.

My plan worked. Will's face turned bright red and his mouth hung open. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." I quipped. Before my courage could run out, I twisted around and tugged on the scrub shirt he'd given me.

The reality of what I had just done hit me. _I just flirted with Will, _my mind was reeling, _I just stripped in front of him. _It might have only been my shirt but that was more of me than I'd ever let him see. My heart was racing with both thrill and chagrin. I leaned on a nearby desk for support.

Will started laughing behind me. Caught up in my own thoughts, I ignored him as I fought to calm my nerves. A faucet turned on, but I assumed he was washing his hands or something of the like.

_Breath, _I thought, recalling Clovis' techniques.

And then a wet, warm cloth pressed onto my neck. "Here, let's get that paint off -" Will began to say as he placed his other hand on my waist.

I did several things in a row: I gasped "_no_," jumped, twisted around, slapped my hand onto my neck, and backed up against the wall.

Will smiled at me with confusion. "Nico, I can't have you helping out in my infirmary with paint all over you! Talk about contamination..." Then his voice died abruptly. I was shaking as his eye brows knitted closer. He was staring at my neck. I wasn't sure how visible the hickies were, but judging by his changing expression... they were visible enough.

His eyes dropped to the wet, paint covered cloth in his hand, before returning to me. I could practically see the gears turning in his head. His smile was gone and his mouth hung open ever so slightly.

He took several steps forward and closed the distance between us. His curious gaze was locked on my neck. Reaching forward, he grabbed my arm and tugged it gently from my neck. I was too terrified to resist.

His sky blue eyes were full of raw pain. "Nico, are those..." He didn't finish his muttered question.

"W-will... I can... explain..." But I didn't have the heart to think of more lies to tell him. I just couldn't. The way that Will was looking at me – hurt, fearful – was breaking my heart. The truth was no good either. What was I supposed to say? _Oh, you're dad gave me those when he tried to rape me when he was disguised as Percy Jackson yesterday._

He stared pleadingly at me, waiting for that explanation.

"O-okay... so, I can't, ah, actually explain. But... but..." I struggled for more words, but none came to me.

"I thought we had something." Will muttered heartbrokenly, his head dropping so I couldn't see his eyes.

I felt like I was choking on my own lies. "W-we do." I pleaded, my voice cracking. The world might as well have been falling down around me. All the sweet moments we'd shared over the last few days flashed through my mind: wrestling on the ground, holding hands, him giving me a peck on the cheek. All that was crashing to an end and I couldn't stop it.

When Will looked up at me again, the hurt was replaced with anger. "No, clearly we don't." He spat harshly, his voice shaking. Rubbing his temples, Will turned and stormed out of the alcove.

I'm not sure what took over me, but I couldn't let him walk away like that. "Will, wait!" I shouted desperately, running after him. He didn't stop even when I caught up to him, so I grabbed the back of his shirt. I didn't know what I was going to say or if I could even manage say anything at all, but I just couldn't let him _leave_. I needed him. I wanted him.

He rounded around and stalked towards me. Caught by surprise, I backed up, frightened by his furious expression. My back hit the wall and he stopped barely an inch away.

"Who gave you those?" He snarled softly, anger flashing in his eyes.

My eyes began to brim with tears. I could barely breathe. The awful truth burned in my heart. "Will, it doesn't matter, it wasn't -" He cut off my frightened babbling.

"_Who. Gave. You. Those._" Will demanded so fiercely that almost I blurted _Apollo_ as a knee jerk response. He rested both of his arms against the wall on either side of my head and glared down at me. Despite the fact that my heart was in the process of being destroyed, there was a part of me that found this dominant, possessive Will incredibly attractive. Something was obviously wrong with me, as I had to resist the urge to remove the distance between us and beg for forgiveness with my lips.

Instead, I murmured weakly, "I... can't tell you."

Will let out a snarl, pushed off the wall, turned around, and stalked away. This time, I didn't chase him. Instead, my legs gave out from under me and I slid to the ground, hiccupping miserably in between my tears.

That was it. Will would never forgive me. I cradled my head into my arms as the world spun around me.

Apollo had ruined everything.

Kayla found me crying in the back of the infirmary several minutes later. She began to fuss over me, asking me _what happened, are you alright, _and more. Sniffling, I lied to her, "I'm fine." My voice was hoarse. She didn't believe me for one second, but I pushed myself to my feet and left before she could investigate further.

The sun was too bright outside. Keeping my head low, I stumbled through camp. The camp was full of demigods, laughing, playing, learning. Overwhelmed with depression and anger, the joy around me disgusted me. When Jason, sitting on the porch of the Aphrodite cabin with Piper called out a greeting to me, I yelled, "SHUT THE FUCK UP, GRACE!" at him before storming off.

Somehow, my feet carried me to the shrines. The newest one was finished. I couldn't help but laugh bitterly when I saw the name 'CUPID' etched in the columns of the shrine. Of course it would be his shrine.

"I'm not sure I would have picked the tile that they did, but I like it regardless." I jumped when a deep voice spoke right beside me. Cupid, in all his glory, stood next to me.

The God of people falling in love. I found myself laughing dryly at the irony that he would show up to talk to me.

"That's what you want to talk about? The tiles?" My voice cracked as I spoke, "What about how that bastard Apollo has been harassing me and ruining my life? You don't want to talk about _him_?"

Cupid's blood red eyes turned towards me. After a moment, they softened and he let out a small sigh. "You should not judge Apollo so harshly." I stared at him, shocked. Oh, I _shouldn't_ judge the god who kept trying to force himself on me? The god who had ruined all chances I had with Will?

Was Cupid completely incapable of empathy?

The ground shook underneath me as my anger bubbled over into my underworld abilities. I glared at Cupid's stupid, new shrine. It would be so easy to open a chasm underneath it and send it to the underworld.

"Don't make me regret hitting Will with an arrow too, Nico di Angelo." Cupid spoke threateningly. Some of my anger defused in defeat. It would be idiotic to make an enemy of a god as strong as Cupid. The ground stilled as I halted my underworld magic.

With my some of my rage gone, I started to feel sort of empty. "It's Apollo's fault that all this is happening." I pointed out dismally.

"No, not quite." Cupid replied curtly. When I frowned at him questioningly, he continued. "This, unfortunately, is a plan of my mother's."

_Aphrodite? _I scrunched my face up with confusion. "But... why?"

"She lost many children in the war that Apollo caused. She saw this as a way for revenge, a way to ruin his relationship with his children... in particular, his favorite child." My head was swimming with all this new information. I had never considered that this may be a plan aimed more so to hurt Will (and Apollo) than to hurt me. Then again, until yesterday, when Will asked me on a date to McDonalds and gave me a kiss on the cheek, I still hadn't been sure if Will really liked me like _that_.

If this really was her plan, then Aphrodite was a cruel goddess. Groaning, I rubbed my face.

If Apollo wasn't truly the blame, could I hate him? Should I hate him?

A wave of depression hit me, washing those thoughts away. In the end, it didn't really matter to me whether it was Apollo's lust or Aphrodite's revenge. I voiced my concerns pessimistically, "What does it even matter? Apollo is persistent. He'll win and I'll lose in the end."

"No, he may not." Cupid stated matter-of-factually with a shake of his head, "Especially if your father has anything to do with it."

My father? My cheeks went red. One of the reasons I hadn't tried praying to my father for help (other than that I never really prayed to him anyways) was that I hadn't been sure what he would think of me having _feelings_ for another guy. "... huh?"

"The gods are still discussing, but a deal might be struck, Nico di Angelo." There was a wry grin on Cupid's face. The wind started to pick up, shaking the tree branches.

Hope blossomed in my chest. "What do you mean? Wait, are they going to force Apollo to stop?" I had the urge to start laughing, imagining my father giving Apollo and Aphrodite hell. I supposed my father wasn't joking around when he told me he wanted me to be happy. I also supposed this meant that he accepted me for who I was.

Cupid frowned. "No, not quite. Zeus decreed that all gods are welcome to get their revenge on Apollo, which means that my mother plans cannot be contested. However, your father may be able to convince my mother to modify her plans." He hesitated before adding regretfully. "No matter what they decide, this love will still not be easy for you, Nico di Angelo. There are trials ahead of you and sacrifices to be made."

The wind picked up, carrying dancing leaves across the ground around us. Before I could ask any more questions (_What trials? What sacrifices?_), Cupid dissolved into the breeze.

My heart sunk. So, in other words, I probably would not get a happy ending. I didn't want a _trials_. I didn't want _sacrifices_. All I wanted as for Apollo to stop his lust for me and for Will to give me another chance.

That's when I gave up and my mind sank deep into my dark depression. I didn't care that there wasn't anyone in my cabin to keep Apollo away. Right then and there, I needed time alone wallow in my own damned self-pity.

Besides that, it had sounded like Apollo might be wrapped up in god-dealings anyways. If my father was keeping the gods, including Apollo, busy with discussions and deals, then Apollo wouldn't be able to come harass me. I was willing to take the risk – anyways, what did it matter? I'd already lost Will. Wasn't he what I had been fighting for?

Besides, if Aphrodite was intent on her revenge, then there wasn't much I could do. Aphrodite wasn't known for giving up easily. All I could do was hope for my father, if what Cupid implied was true, would come through.

I found my cabin empty when I got to it. Slamming the door close behind me, I flopped face first onto my bed and buried my face into my pillow.

It was nice to be alone finally. It was just me and my thoughts. Anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment all broiled within me – but I didn't have to share any of it. No one was peering over my shoulder, trying to help me. I could bear it alone. In the end, that's what I was the most comfortable with. That's what was the easiest. That's how I had dealt with losing Bianca, all those years ago.

I'm not sure how long passed before the bed shifted slightly and hands started kneading at my back. I tensed up.

"Shh, it'll be alright." It was Will's voice, but it wasn't Will.

"Go away Apollo." I muttered wearily.

Instead of answering, the god continued massaging my back. His hands felt good, pressing and rubbing in just the right way. It felt really nice, so nice that I started to relax. I groaned with pleasure as he pressed on my lower back. My eye lids fluttered with drowsiness. A massage never hurt anyone, right? I liked it too much to stop it.

That is, until his hands found their way to my rear. I rolled over the moment his hands groped me, shoving my elbows against the side of his hip in an attention to push him off from where he was, hovering over me. He didn't budge. "I don't want you touching me." I snarled fiercely.

Will smiled back at me. Since he was actually Apollo, he looked harshly perfect. Dark, cobalt blue eyes narrowed playfully, like I had given him a challenge rather than a command. I wanted to escape but he was straddling my waist, trapping me.

"Oh, but I think you do." Will said warmly as he ran a few fingers along my jawline, sparking electricity into my skin.

"No, I don't." I growled. I was starting to regret my reckless decision to come back to my cabin alone. Yes, I had lost Will, but that didn't mean I was suddenly okay with _this_. Apollo wasn't who I wanted to share my first time with; it was bad enough he had stolen my first kiss.

He started to lean down, so I quickly braced my arms against his chest. "_No._" I repeated.

Will's hands wrapped around my wrists and gently tugged them off his chest. Being a god, Apollo was too strong to stop. The hopeless of my situation hit me as Apollo pinned my arms over my head with one hand, just he had done when he had been Percy yesterday.

_What have I done? _I thought in horror. _I should never have come back here alone._ Now I was going to lose everything.

Will's mouth pressed into mine. The kiss was charged with his electricity, warping my desires as it bleed into my system. I moaned in protest. I hated how good it felt to have Will – no, Apollo – kissing me like this. "Yes, you want me." Will whispered huskily before slipping his tongue into my mouth, eliciting another moan from me, "Because I'm him and you want him. And, I want you. We both win." His free hand wandered down my chest before playing with the hem of my shirt.

He unceremoniously yanked my shirt off. Before I could use my newly freed hands, he grabbed them again and re-pinned them above my head.

"No..." I weakly protested in vain, my heart hammering in my chest. Both lustful electricity and fear pounded through my veins.

"Use your imagination, Nico." Will implored as he kissed the hickies he had left the day before. However, my imagination could never fabricate a world where the real Will treated me like this. The real Will would never push me into something I wasn't ready for or didn't want. The real Will cared for me too much to do that to me.

Apollo, in his Aphrodite-induced obsession, ultimately only wanted one thing.

His free hand was wandering south, tracing swirls on my stomach as he went. Then, it crossed onto my jeans and landed on exactly what I didn't want Apollo to touch. "N-no!" I spluttered with horror, my hips bucking instinctually under his touch. "Stop! D-don't touch m-me!" But my protests grew weaker and weaker with every wave of heat that rushed up from my groin from Apollo's rubbing.

Apollo's cobalt eyes were shining with amusement as he made me squirm.

A loud, strangled moan escaped my lips. "No...!"

That's when the door to the Hades cabin was thrown open so roughly that it smashed loudly into the interior wall.

"What the Hades is going on!?" The real Will, my Will, shouted as he took a few steps into the cabin.

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

**- x - x - AUTHOR'S NOTES - x - x -**

Since you guys love cliffhangers so much, I made sure to include another one in this chapter! You're welcome, everyone. :)

For a link to extra tidbits that accompany these chapters, check out my profile! (I really recommend checking out this chapter's tidbit! It's a good one.)


	7. Pepto-Bismal

**. x .**

**COBALT BLUE**

_Chapter Six: **Pepto-Bismal**_

Unlike the perfect Will that was straddling my waist, the real Will's hair looked messier than ever and his eyes were puffy and red.

The world seemed to slow down as surprised stares were exchanged. I wasn't sure whether I was happy to be saved or horrified that he had walked in on the _truth_. Meanwhile, Will blanched at the copy of himself. I imagined that it must be quite confusing to find a copy of yourself on top of your spurned crush.

Then fake Will – _Apollo _- leaned down and started kissing my neck again, his hand pressing against the excitement in my jeans.

Alarmed, I croaked pleadingly, "Will..." _Help._

Will's face scrunched up with confusion. After a moment of hesitation, he started storming towards my bunk, snarling, "What is going on!? Who are you!?"

Apollo's hand finally disappeared from my groin as he rolled off me and held his hands up in defense. I took this as an opportunity to shove myself up against the headboard of the bed, hugging my knees to my chest.

"Whoa now, that's hardly the way you should be talking to your old man, now is it?" Real Will stumbled to a stop at his copy's words, his face a painting of bafflement.

There was a flash of light as the fake Will transformed into Apollo.

Will looked like he was about to throw up, but he wasn't the only one. My stomach was doing flips like a gymnast. Several expressions flash across Will's face. It looked like he couldn't decide whether to bow to or try to strangle Apollo. "What are you... doing... to Nico?"

"Oh, this is embarrassing!" Apollo laughed like it was no big deal. "As it turns out, we actually have very similar taste in men, son."

This time, Will actually retched a little. He slapped a hand over his mouth afterward, coughing. "But... but... but... but..." Will chokes out, repeating himself like a broken record. It takes several deep breathes for him to find his question. "W-why were you _me_?" His voice is dripping with disgust.

I feel more like an audience member than a participant in what could be the worst father-son conversation in the decade. They started to talk about me as if I wasn't in the room, watching them both with wide eyes.

"Oh, well, Nico doesn't have a lot of interest in me. But he has a lot of interest in you!" Apollo explained cheerfully as I tried to myself smaller against the headboard.

"So you've been pretending to be _me_ to get to _him_!?" Will spat furiously. Suddenly, he took a step back, looking like he just had an epiphany. "You gave him those hickies."

Apollo grinned devilishly. "Guilty as charged!"

"YOU ASSHOLE!" Will exploded. "You knew I liked him, and you do this!? I prayed to you for _help _with him!" In comparison to his full throttle rage right now, his anger earlier at the hickies looked downright pleasant.

Apollo's face contorted for a second with a strange expression. Sadness? Regret? Before I had a chance to really read it and be sure, it disappeared. Then, Apollo grinned and threw his hands up again in surrender. "Whoa, hold on there, tiger!" He said, "I think you're looking at this the wrong way!"

Both Will and I stared at him with disbelief. What other way was there to look at this twisted, fucked up situation?

"Think of it this way: we could have an amazing three-way!"

_What._

A bit of vomit crept its way up my throat and I had to swallow it down.

"YOU'RE MY DAD!" Will screamed with disgust as he waved his arms furiously at Apollo.

"Oh. Right. I suppose that would make it awkward." Apollo admitted with a shrug. "Well, anyways, I'm not giving up on you yet, Nico." He shot a grin at me that made my skin crawl.

Will started to run towards the bed, but Apollo vanished in a shimmer of light before he could reach him. I'm not sure what he had been planning to do; Will was unarmed, he wasn't a fighter, and Apollo was a god. Secretly, I was glad that Apollo had vanished before Will could do something stupid like try to tackle him.

I found myself alone in the cabin with Will. He rubbed his face, groaning. There was a growing ball of panic in my chest. Now he knew and now he would reject me more so than he had earlier. And to make matters worse, I had just single-handedly destroyed his relationship with his dad.

Shivering with anxiety, I grabbed the covers on my bed and pulled them up to my chin.

"How long?" Will asked dryly.

I blinked and replied dumbly, "Huh?"

He looked up and stared intently at me. "How long has he been... harassing you?"

_Oh. _I dropped my gaze. "... ever since you came back."

"That's why you've been acting so funny recently." Will realized with a sigh as he walked over to the bed. I flinched a little when he sat down. I wasn't sure if he was upset at me.

"I'm s-sorry." I whimpered softly, my eyes burning as I started crying again. I hated myself for how easily I kept crying.

Will's arms wrapped around my shoulders and I found myself pulled in for a hug. I tensed up with surprise when Will told me gently, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you earlier." He laughed humorlessly, "I was actually coming to apologize when..." His voice trailed off sadly.

A silence settled over us. I rested my forehead in the crook of his neck, breathing in his smell. My tears dried up. We stayed like that for a while. I couldn't stop trembling, though. Apollo had left fear embedded in my chest.

Will understood. Eventually, he grabbed at the covers on the beds and pulled them down and off my legs. I started to protest until I realized that he was climbing under them with me. He laid down, his arm guiding me down too. When he nudged me against his chest, I curled up close to him without resistance. His arms wrapped protectively around me.

The fear started to ebb away.

Here, cuddled up against Will, I felt safe.

Later, I woke up to find three smiling faces surrounding my bed. Rachel, Annabeth, Percy. Beside me, Will blinked his eyes open and yawns wide. I realized that we had fallen asleep.

"Good morning, boys." Annabeth snorted with a laugh.

Heat rushed to my face. I would have swiftly shoved myself out of the bed, but Will's arms were wrapped around me. He didn't look very concerned at being found in such an intimate position. "Good morning." He replied lazily, he voice hoarse.

I inched my way out of Will's embrace and sat up against the head board. Suddenly, the expressions of the three demigods changed ever so slightly. Rachel stared at my face with shock before asking tentatively, "Uh, is everything okay?" My eyes must have still been red from crying.

"Um." I was too tired to lie, so I replied meekly, "Sort of... well, no." It was sort of fine, because Will had forgiven me, but Apollo hadn't given up.

Will propped himself up on his arms and asked me, "Do they know?"

"Rachel does." I replied.

"Know what?" Annabeth asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. Rachel sighed sadly.

_Fuck it. _I thought. There was no point in continuing to try to weave a web of lies. Just like how Cupid had made me face the truth two years ago on my quest, it was time for me to face the truth again. Perhaps that was the only way to conquer it? "About... Apollo." I admitted nervously.

Percy frowned in confusion. "Apollo? Will's dad? We know about him. Heck, we've met him."

"It's more than that." I added, annoyed at how oblivious Percy was to the sensitivity of the situation.

Annabeth placed her hands on her hips and asked, "Okay, what's going on?" She looked stuck between being annoyed that she didn't know what we knew and concerned about what it was.

Holding both of her hands up in defense, Rachel stated, "Hey, I swore on the River Styx that I wouldn't say anything."

It wouldn't be fair to ask Rachel to do all the explaining for me anyways. Tucking my chin onto my knees, I sighed and admitted, "Apollo's been, uh, visiting me recently."

"Visiting?" Annabeth parroted, clearly baffled. "You're not his child. Why would he be..." As I blushed, she trailed off in the middle of her sentence, her mouth forming a perfect circle as she inhaled sharply. "Oh. Oh! Oh my gods. And... you don't... you aren't _interested_ in these visits?" She asked cautiously.

"No!" Will and I spoke at the same time. Surprised, I looked at him. His cheeks turned red and he dropped his gaze to the bed, abashed.

Percy frowned deeply, clearly still baffled. "What? I don't get it. Why's he been visiting you, Nico?"

Rolling her eyes and sighing, Annabeth cupped an ear to Percy's ear and started whispering to him. As she did so, he kept starting and stopping speaking. "Interested?... why would... so... but then... WHOA!" His eyes grew wide as Annabeth finished explaining.

I tilted my head down and buried my face against my legs.

Annabeth said, "Oh, Nico. I'm so sorry. Have you tried to talk to Chiron about this?" I shook my head in response.

"That's a good idea." Will said, looking back up at me. "Maybe we should try that?" I liked the way that he said _we _more than I should have.

I agreed with a small nod.

On the way to the Big House, we passed Jason and Piper. The two of them were still sitting on the porch of the Aphrodite cabin. They got up and rushed over to us when they saw us. Jason eyed me nervously as he approached. "Hey, what's going on?"

Annabeth looked at me, asking with her eyes. _Oh, fuck it. _I thought, rubbing the bridge of my nose with frustration. Secrets were too hard to keep. "You can tell them." I told her with a sigh.

Seven demigods ended up piling into Chiron's office. For the first time, I wished that Rachel hadn't swore on the River Styx to not share what I told her. I would have preferred to have her explain everything this time around but that wasn't an option. As Chiron listened intently, I struggled to tell the story of everything that had happened over the last week.

Will held my hand as I talked. I think he had meant to support me with it, but it ended up being more so his life line. When I talked about each time that Apollo appeared – the first day, the Capture the Flag, the first time in my cabin, the time he was Percy (although I did _not_ mention that he was Percy), and then the final incident today – Will squeezed my hand while his face contorted as if every word was as unpleasant as nails on a chalkboard.

"Nico, I'm very sorry all of this is happening to you." Chiron said gently, once I'd finished telling my story. I didn't like the regretful look on his kind, old face. "However, there is not anything that I can do. A god moved by love can become almost unstoppable. On top of that, I'm afraid Apollo's uncharacteristic actions may be due to meddling from Aphrodite. She lost several children in the battle with Gaea, and I believe she blames Apollo for that."

"But why would she pick Nico to do this to?" Annabeth asked.

"I have some theories. By selecting Nico for this plan, she not affects Apollo himself, but with one of his favorite sons." Will gulped, his hand squeezing mine again. Chiron continued, "Besides that, Hades and Aphrodite have always had a rocky relationship. This may also be an attempt to anger Hades."

"But what can we _do_?" Percy asked, crossing his arms with frustration.

Chiron sighed heavily. "There is not much. The best you can do would be to stay with Nico and be prepared to protect him."

"Fine." Will snapped so fiercely that I jumped a little. "Then I won't leave Nico's side."

And so that began the end of me ever having alone time. As we left, everyone started discussing how they would split their time up amongst me. It was a surprisingly easy itinerary to create, as Will took most of my time by offering to have me join him in the infirmary for most of each day.

The night that followed was awkward. Rachel kept glancing over at me as she worked on her art. It looked like she wanted to pepper me with questions but she was unsure if they would be welcome. Luckily, she didn't try. I wasn't ready to breach the subject of Will or Apollo with her... not yet, at least.

The very next morning, Will was already back to his cheery self.

Unfortunately, I got to find that out sooner than I wanted to. Around seven in the morning, he paraded into the cabin and started throwing open the curtains. "Good morning, you two!" He yelled happily. "Rise and shine! Nico, we've got work to do today!"

I let out a hiss of annoyance and pulled the sheets up above my head. It was way too early to get up. "Go away." I grumbled as I buried my face into my pillow.

Who did he think he was, busting into my cabin so early in the morning? Yes, I agreed to join him for work in the infirmary, but I never agreed to wake up an ungodly hour. I bundled the sheets around myself tighter, curling into a ball.

"Come on, wake up." Will commanded firmly, his voice coming from right above me. He started nudging me, trying to shake me awake. I ignored him, but he just nudged harder.

"Will, I refuse to wake up before nine in the morning." I growled stubbornly through my pillow at him.

"That's too bad, because you're getting up now." He replied just as stubbornly.

"Unless you plan on dragging me out of here kicking and screaming, no I'm not."

Giving him that challenge was a mistake. I hadn't meant it seriously, but Will decided to take it as such. He grabbed my legs and yanked me out of the bed.

Rachel was watching from her bed, clearly amused, as I jumped to my feet and assaulted Will with my pillow.

Regardless, I did end up getting up and getting ready for the day. While Will waited in the cabin and chatted with Rachel, I hopped into the shower. When I emerged a few minutes later, clean and dressed, Will jogged over to me.

"Let's go!" He declared pleasantly, before grabbing my hand. It was distracting, how well our hands fit together.

As we walked to the infirmary, I couldn't help but sneak glances at Will. I was surprised by this 180 degree change from yesterday. I mean,_ shit_, yesterday had been traumatizing. We had cried together, for fuck's sake. Why was he okay now? Or, was he?

"So..." I finally implored, cautious. I wasn't looking to tick Will off.

"So?" Will replied casually, looking over at me with a smile.

"You're..." I searched for the right words, "back to normal."

His smile faltered. Then, Will sighed. "Yeah, well. There's no point to being gloomy, is there? I mean, I can't even blame my dad, if what Chiron said is right and this is really all thanks to Aphrodite." Sadness crept into his voice as he spoke. I had the urge comfort Will by giving him a hug.

Instead, I clarified for him, "What he said was right. Cupid told me the same thing." Thanks to Aphrodite, everything was messed up. Piper had apologized for her mother after the meeting with Chiron, but that didn't mean much. After all, Piper wasn't Aphrodite.

Will gave me a funny look. "What?" He said, baffled, "Cupid?"

I shrugged. It wasn't a big deal. "Oh, yea, I talked to him yesterday."

There was a pause, and then Will laughed and stated curtly, "Well then."

"Yea..." A wave of guilt hit me. In the past week, I hadn't been able to share much with Will, despite how close we were. "Look, Will, I'm sorry that I had to keep it from you."

A small frown tugged down at the corners of Will's lips. Suddenly, he stopped, grabbing my arm gently so that I stopped too. He turned to face me. "That's the one thing I still don't understand." He said, "Why did you keep it from me?"

I blinked at him. Honestly, I thought that it was obvious. Yet, here he was, gazing down at me intently. "Because it would have hurt you." I explained softly, "Because I thought you would have... been upset." _At me._ I didn't add that last part out loud. As it turned out, he didn't get upset at me (which was still surprising to me).

"Upset? At who?" Will asked, his eyes narrowing.

Now I felt silly. Was it so crazy that I had worried what he would have thought? Shifting my weight from leg to leg nervously, I mumbled a weak response, "I dunno."

Will groaned, throwing his head back momentarily as he did so. Before I could snap at him for being so overly dramatic, he stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. "You're an idiot. Please know that." Will whispered grumpily into my ear.

The damned hug made me blush like crazy. It was like I had no control over my own reactions now-a-days, which made me angry. I grumbled in response to his caring insult, "Well, you're a butt." Then, before he could pull back, I leaned into the hug. Normally, I wasn't much for hugs, but, normally, I wasn't hugging Will Solace.

We changed into scrub shirts when we got to the infirmary. The day proceeded smoothly, with me following Will has he darted in and out of the curtained rooms. There were several demigods stuck in the infirmary for a variety of reasons, which meant that there was plenty to do. There were bandages to be changed, vitals to be taken, and medical histories to update.

It was the day we should have had yesterday.

Despite that Will was running me ragged by having me fetch supplies and pushing gurneys to and fro, I enjoyed myself. All the commotion and work kept me busy and kept my mind off my worries. Besides that, it was nice to be helping Will.

It started to slow down by the end of the day. Most of the other healers were beginning to check out for the day, off to an evening of hobbies and archery practice. Will and I were some of the few left in the infirmary by the time the clocks read _5:00 P.M._

Before we left, Will wanted to try and find some medicine that he hadn't been able to find earlier during the daytime rush. I filed into the supply closet behind him and we began to dig through the bottles and tubes of magical and mortal supplies.

"What the Hades are we looking for again?" I asked, frowning at the assortment of supplies that cluttered the supply closet's shelves.

"Pepto-bismal. It's in a pink bottle with a fancy label. It's one of the supplies we get from the outside world." Will replied as he searched.

Nodding, I pushed around the supplies on the shelf in front of me, trying to find a pink bottle. As I searched, I noticed that the medical supplies had absolutely no order to them. That was definitely not how Calypso and her helpers had left the supply closet. "What happened to this closet? It was all ordered and nice last week." I commented with a huff.

Will giggled nervously. "Yea, I'm not the best at organization." He admitted guiltily.

I rolled my eyes. "Yea, I can see. Good gods, Will." He really had done a number on the closet in the short time that he'd been back.

"Hey, my talents are limited, bub. Better get used to it!"

"Limited?" I inquired as I glanced over at my shoulder at him, curiously. That hardly seemed like a good descriptor for him.

Will stopped his search to look over his shoulder and smile sadly at me. "I can heal. That's about it."

Of all the people I knew, Will was the last person I expected to talk about himself in such a self-depreciating way. For starters, _can heal _was a poor way to describe his medical talents. _Is fantastic at healing _was much more accurate. Besides that, he might not been the best singer or the best archer, but who cared?

It was annoying to hear him talk about himself like that. I scowled. He had a lot more talents than he was giving himself credit for. "Don't forget about that awful whistle you can do." I pointed out.

Will laughed. "Yea, you're right, there's that."

I pushed around some more medicine bottles as I, in an attempt to cheer him up, added teasingly, "Also, you're really good at being incredibly annoying."

"Hey!" Will protested with a hearty chuckle. He paused, before adding thoughtfully, "You know what, I'm going to take that as a compliment."

The corners of my lips rose as a small smile grew on my face. There, that was the cheerful Will that I liked. "You also always look on the bright side of things." I told him matter-of-factually.

"Every cloud has a silver lining, Nico."

I liked that. Smiling a bit, I said, "Yeah, I suppose." Focusing back on the task on hand, I continued to dig through the supplies. Then, a pink bottle caught my eye. "Oh!" I exclaimed as I fished out the bottle from behind a bunch of others. "I think I found it."

Sure enough, the bottle I grabbed had pink bubble text that read _PEPTO-BISMAL _and listed a bunch of unpleasant digestive complications that it could help with. I turned on heel so that I could hand off the bottle to Will.

And I found him facing me, staring down at me. It occurred to me, in this moment, how small the supply closet was – Will and I were only about a foot a part in this dimly lit, private space.

It was quiet enough for me to hear his slow breathing.

Heat began to spread throughout me as my heart sped up. The way that Will was looking at me was intense, so much so that I found myself captivated by his sky blue eyes. My breathing became shallow and quick.

No, this was too soon. I gulped. The way he was looking at him made me yearn to close the distance between us, but that was a bad idea. If anything, waiting to further our, ah, _relationship_ (if you could call it that yet) was the best option. After all that we had gone through yesterday, with Apollo and Aphrodite meddling in our lives, it was a dumb idea to rush into anything.

_Don't do it. _I mentally chastised myself. _Don't._

But I was locked in place. I couldn't find it in me to move, to run out of the closet and away from Will.

When Will took a step forward, all the heartache from Apollo washed out of my mind.

My legs finally moved, drawing me a step closer to Will. There were only inches separating us. I knew I was blushing but, for once, I didn't care. I was too focused on how alluring Will's lips were to be embarrassed about anything.

He reached up and cupped his hand against my cheek. Electricity raced down my spine.

I couldn't wait any longer.

I leaned up on my toes right as Will leaned down. Our lips crashed together, hard. It was hot and frantic first kiss. Tongues, teeth, and lips clashed in a chaotic battle. My mind suffered from severe tunnel vision: all I could think about was howI was kissing Will Solace and it was _wonderful. _

The pepto-bismal bottle dropped from my hand. It exploded onto the ground, splattering pink goop all over my shoes, but I could have cared less. I needed that hand so that I could dig it into Will's soft hair. Which, by the way, is exactly what I did.

His other hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me against him. Will was hot even through both our shirts (I supposed that was one of the perks of being half sun god).

My head was spinning by the time we broke apart. I hard to lean against Will for support. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind. My heart felt like it was about to explode from ecstasy.

"Wow..." I murmured.

He grinned. "Yea."

Then he leaned back down and claimed my lips again. This time, Will pushed me against the shelves. Bottles clattered down from the shelves as I pressed back into them. We were making an absolute mess and I loved it.

It was intoxicating.

I'm not sure how long we made out for. A couple of minutes? A lot of minutes? We only occasionally surfaced to gasp for air. His lips were soft and warm against mine and, when he sucked on my lower lip, I couldn't help but moan.

Then, someone cleared their throat loudly near us. Will and I broke apart, panting. My attention snapped to the entrance of the supply closet where Kayla was standing, grinning mischievously.

Will blinked. "Oh. Hi Kayla." He was still pressed flush against me. I squirmed, embarrassed to be found in such an intimate manner.

Kayla giggled and didn't say anything; rather, she simply raised a brow at Will and gave him a knowing look.

"Uh... I think I'm going to go ahead and leave now, Kayla. Do you mind?" Will did his best to sound nonchalant, but his voice was several pitches higher than normal.

"I don't mind. I can clean up." Kayla's eyes twinkled as she nodded at the mess of pepto-bismal and knocked over medicine bottles.

Grabbing my hand, Will tugged me out of the closet and out of the infirmary. Before I could ask him _what now_, he led me to the back side of the Big House. I gave him a questioning look when he pulled me into the shade of one of the Big House's walls.

Then, he wrapped his arms around me and fell backwards. Yelping, I tumbled down on top of him. "What the fuck, Will!" I growled, struggling in his grasp. He only laughed. I tried to adjust myself into a graceful position in his grasp.

He didn't give me the chance to, though. Will suddenly rolled over, pinning me below him. I glared up at him, annoyed by his shenanigans. However, when he leaned down and pressed his lips into mine, I melted into the kiss.

There were a million things that I should have been worrying about, but, caught up in the moment, I worried about exactly none of them.

**- x - x - x **- x - x - x ****- x - x - x ****- x -****

**- x - x - AUTHOR'S NOTES - x - x -**

Consider this an apology chapter for the last two cliffhangers? ;D Merry Christmas and happy holidays, yall!

For a link to extra tidbits that accompany these chapters, check out my profile!


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